Pokémon: Cobalt and Mauve Version
by Redblack-24
Summary: The next generation of heroes is here. Cobalt, a young brainiac saddles up with his Growlithe, Chūsei to Celadon University until he bumps into aspiring Trainer Mauve whom he agrees to tag along with on a crazy journey to become a Champion. Welcome to the Taiyō no Shima. Rated T for language. Now open to Gym Leader/Elite Four OC's! PM me or review if you wish to join!
1. Chapter 1

Cobalt & Mauve:

"**A Trainer In The Making (Pilot)**"

* * *

"_Fire-types are weak against Water, Rock, and Ground. Fire-types are strong against Grass, Bug, Ice, and..._"

A seventeen-year-old boy with messy black hair and cool blue eyes was typing notes on his PC. His name was Cobalt, as in the shade of blue. He never realized why his mother would ever choose such a strange name for her son, though he assumed it was because of his eye color.

He sat there wearing a red T-shirt with black outlines of Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard, a pair of blue athletic shorts and white short socks.

Tomorrow was the day he would leave for Celadon University, a school for kids like him to study Pokémon rather than train and battle them. The one trouble was how far the school was from his home.

Cobalt lived on the island of Hajimari; one of the ten islands of the Taiyō no Shima, an archepiligo off the coast of the Kalos region.

He never thought of being the Trainer type. Knowing strategy and quite a bit of Pokémon themselves, training them to be an elite team was a different story for him. The very thought of losing a Pokémon battle was a nightmare that haunted the back of his mind.

A small Growlithe entered the room and barked up at Cobalt.

He turned in his chair and scratched the Pokémon's head,

"Hey buddy."

Chūsei, (the Growlithe) was the only Pokémon Cobalt had ever owned. Chūsei was hatched from an egg from the Arcanine owned by Cobalt's father the day before Cobalt was born and the two had been inspeperable ever since.

Cobalt's father was once a great Trainer until his untimely end before Cobalt was born. His mother would often say how much Cobalt looked like his father.

Despite their loss, Cobalt and his mother moved on with their lives. His mother had gotten a job at the Pokémon Center in his hometown and Cobalt went on to study Pokémon and had dreams of being...

It was only then that Cobalt realized that he didn't know what to do with his life after Celadon U.

"Cobalt, it's time for bed!"

"Okay mom!"

Cobalt went back to typing his notes. It didn't take long before he finished and printed the rest off in small sheets to place in a black, pocket-sized binder with his name on it in golden letters as Chūsei brought Cobalt his green backpack. Stuffing the rest of his things in his backpack he had it hung on the back of the chair in front of his desk and flung himself into his bed after throwing away his shirt and kicking off his socks with Chūsei snuggling up to the end of the bed like he always would.

Cobalt laid there in his bed, barely asleep, wondering what the school would be like. Would he make a lot of friends? What all would he learn?

He knew more than anything that he wanted to study Fire-type Pokémon. Fire-types were his favorite.

He decided to let this rest and with that, he was out like a light.

* * *

**"**_**RING RING RING!**_"

Cobalt's eyes shot open as Chūsei started barking. He slammed down hard on his Pidgey alarm clock; the ringing stopped soon after. Cobalt already began to smell breakfast in the kitchen downstairs. The plate of waffles, eggs, and bacon popped into his head and quickly jumped out of bed with his Growlithe following closely behind.

"Morning honey." His mother greeted him as he walked in the kitchen.

"Morning."

Cobalt sat down and ate while his mother was cleaning the dishes.

"Today's the day." His mother said.

"Yeah."

His mother had finished cleaning the dishes,

"So is it really necessary that you need a Pokémon to take with you?"

"I'm not sure it is. They might provide me one if I don't have any."

"Why don't you take Chūsei with you?"

"I didn't want you to get lonely. Besides I don't think he'd like it there."

Cobalt looked down at Chūsei, whose determined eyes told his master that he wished to stay with him.

"You want to come with me buddy?"

The Growlithe barked in what Cobalt assumed was agreement.

"Well then I guess that's settled."

After finishing his breakfast, Cobalt then looked at the clock and saw that if he was going to make it to the train that left for the next island, then he would have to start walking soon,

"Aw man Chūsei, we gotta go!"

The two ran back up to Cobalt's room to make sure he had everything packed: a extra change of clothes, his pocket-sized binder of notes, a couple of books on Pokémon, a permanent black marker, a case of pencils, a Town Map, and three different colored notebooks.

Following Chūsei, Cobalt came down in a different outfit: a plain black T-shirt under an emerald colored jacket with white going down the torso and around the wrists. He was also wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, long black socks (which the jeans covered), and a pair of black Running Shoes.

The two were about to leave when Cobalt's mother stopped him,

"Cobalt, wait!"

He turned to see his teary-eyed mother, holding what he recognized as a Pokéball, and not just any ordinary Pokéball, Chūsei's Pokéball.

Cobalt took the ball from his mother's hands and placed it in his pocket once miniaturized into the size of a Ping-Pong ball.

His mother gave him a hug goodbye,

"Take care of yourself. And Chūsei too."

"I will."

Cobalt walked out the door and took a few steps from the house before saying to his Growlithe,

"Well, it looks like it's just you and me now buddy."

The Growlithe barked in excitement as he and his owner began their journey.

* * *

On another side of the island, a young girl with straight blonde hair was riding her turquoise bicycle to the top of a ledge that led to her private fishing spot. Her name was Mauve.

She wore a magenta colored T-shirt with an oval on the upper torso colored a softer shade. She wore a pair of light blue capris and white Running Shoes.

Mauve and her family had recently moved to the island from Celadon City to get away from the craze of the city life and settle down in a more peaceful environment.

She had at first protested to the thought of moving, but the lush environment and abundance of Pokémon had won her over. What's more was that she was starting her journey as a Pokémon Trainer to accept the Taiyō no Shima Gym Challenge, which was perfect seeing is how today was her sixteenth birthday. There was however just one problem:

She didn't own a Pokémon.

Not only that but she didn't have anything to catch one with. How was she to compete if she couldn't battle?

And so she sat there on a ledge five feet above the sea, fishing pole in one hand and eyes wandering around. She had "borrowed" the Super Rod fishing pole from her Fishing Guru father when the only Pokémon she could catch with the "pole" her father had gotten her were Tentacool and Magikarp.

Mauve started to drift into sleep when the pole started to tug on her grasp. She jumped up in excitement and did what her father taught her:

_"Let it take the bait, reel it in a little, let it follow you and if it keeps tugging, yank it as hard as you can!"_

With one final yank,

_"SNAP!"_

Mauve stopped, her eyes moved over when she saw that the Super Rod had completely snapped in half. She started worrying; her father wouldn't like it when he found out this had happened.

But then again,

"Did I catch something this time?"

She peered down to the water but didn't see anything at first, leading her to sink her head in disappointment. That was until something nudged her head. Something big.

Mauve slowly looked up and was startled at first when she saw a Lapras was peeking over the cliff.

"Oh...sorry about that, you scared me."

The Lapras made what Mauve interpreted as laughter.

Mauve got up, taking out one of the many Pokéballs she had in her bag,

"Okay, I guess now I have to catch you! And...GO!"

The ball went hurtling at Lapras before hitting Lapras' head, and was sucked into the ball in a flash of blue. It shook at least four or five times before it finally stopped.

"Yes! Finally I got a Lapras!"

Now the only thing was to explain the snapped Super Rod to her father.

She stuffed her new Lapras into her bag and rode her bike all the way home.

Once there, she stuffed away the fishing rod in her father's closet where he normally kept it, making it appear that she hadn't stolen it.

"Mauve?"

She quickly spun around to see her father standing in the doorway. A confused look was on his face,

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing...just thought I'd-"

She noticed she still had her Old Rod with her,

"Put my Rod back where you kept it..."

"Did you catch anything?"

Mauve hesitated. How could she lie to her father? Well, maybe instead of lying she could "stretch the truth" a little.

"I...sorta caught a Lapras..."

Her father had flipped,

"A Lapras?! That's amazing! And with an Old Rod too? How did you catch a it?"

"Well it just sort of swam up to me while I was fishing and I just...caught it. It didn't really put up much of a fight."

"Well I hope you like it hun. And since I know you're planning on leaving today, I got you this as another birthday present."

Her father pulled out a brand new blue backpack. She took it from her father and immediately noticed that it was heavy.

"Mom went ahead and got you some supplies before you leave. Happy Birthday, Hun."

Mauve started getting teary-eyed, and hugged her father,

"Oh, Daddy."

Her father then did a double take at the Super Rod barely hidden in the closet; something wasn't right. He let go of Mauve and walked over to it to inspect his pole.

He was horrified to find it snapped in half.

Good thing Mauve had already left on her bike as her father cried out,

**"MAUVE!"**

* * *

"Woo, let's take a minute to stop for a bit Chūsei."

Cobalt and Chūsei had stopped for the moment under a large oak tree to rest before heading to the docks which were still a little ways away.

"Now, if I look at the map right," Cobalt said taking out the map and reading it thoroughly, "the docks are still a couple miles away. If we keep going at the rate we are now, we should be able to reach it in about an hour."

Chūsei barked in excitement before stopping suddenly in mid-bark. Something ruslted in the bushes and out came a couple of Sandshrew and Sandslash.

"Ah cool!" Cobalt took out a small but thick, black book and flipped the pages to find the Pokémon they were encountering and read it out loud,

_**"The Sandshrew family: The Mouse Pokémon. Ground types. They dig burrows at astounding velocities with the ability to regenerate their claws and spikes if they are ever broken off. They dislike water and prefer to live in the dark or in arid deserts which they can survive by perserving the water in their body. They also like to roll up into balls which shield them from most attacks and falling from great heights."**_

It looked as though they were a family. One of the smaller ones looked as though it had hatched not three days ago at most.

Cobalt reached up to a nearby Berry tree one of the Sandslash were trying to get and pulled down a Sitrus Berry and gave to Sandlash.

It nodded its head while making a sound that said it was grateful.

Then there came a rustle in the trees. Cobalt slowly looked up to see a horde of Mankey and one Primeape. That must have been their leader. None of them looked happy.

Cobalt whipped out his book again and searched for Mankey and Primeape's information.

_**"Mankey and Primeape: The Pig Monkey Pokémon. Fighting types. Very easy to agitate and known for being light on their feet and extremely hostile. A sure sign if their rage is when their breathing becomes rough and it is nearly impossible to escape their fury. If one Mankey becomes upset then the rest of the colony will go ballistic for no reason. One can easily anger a Primeape just by looking at; once enraged the circulation of its blood causes its muscles to become stronger where at the same time it becomes less intellegent. Never look a Primeape in the eyes or it will never stop chasing you."**_

"Oh, are you brutes ever happy?" Cobalt remarked.

This only made it worse. Now they started growling, their eyes not taking off of Cobalt.

"Oh I get it now, the Berry tree was part of your territory and I went and plucked from it...sorry?"

The other Pokémon had already scurried away nervously, giving Cobalt a bad feeling about what was going to happen next.

They all leaped down from the tree and surrounded Cobalt and Chūsei. Perhaps they were simply trying to intimidate the pair?

It wasn't until one of the Mankey tried charging up at Cobalt that he knew the fight was on. But before Mankey could reach Cobalt's face, Chūsei had bit down hard on the Mankey's tail while it was in midair and slammed it into the ground. Chūsei coninued to growl and snarl at the colony, who were even to become a bit uneased.

Primeape however wasn't pleased and charged.

"Okay buddy you've made your point; I think it's time to go!"

The two ran off with Primeape and the rest of the colony following closely behind.

* * *

Mauve was now riding her bicycle through an open path in a corn field, feeling very excited about her starting journey. She wondered who the first Gym Leader would be and what type the specialized in. Instead of there being the traditional eight, there was instead ten! With one of the islands holding the Taiyō no Shima Tournament. It was all just so thrilling.

All of a sudden she heard someone yelling.

There was a rustling in the corn field and out popped a little Growlithe.

Mauve almost fell off her bike,

"Oh my Arceus! You have to be the cutest-!"

She was cut off by someone who ran into her when she was going on about Growlithe. She looked to see a boy, about her age, with a nervous look on his face,

"What are you doing?! **RUN!**"

* * *

Cobalt had led the chase into a nearby cornfield where he'd thought he and Chūsei would lose the colony.

Unfortunately, they were wrong. The pair had run into a girl on her bike, and now the fight was between Cobalt, Chūsei and this stranger.

All three of them were now running out of the cornfield and into an open short grass plain.

"Hurry, they're gaining!" Cobalt said.

"Why don't you use your Growlithe to fight them?!"

"I don't battle Pokémon, I study them!"

"You what?!"

The girl stopped running,

"I didn't just start my journey just to run from you jerks! Come on Lapras, let's show them what we're made of!"

She tossed a Pokéball into the air, and out in a flash of blue light came a Lapras.

Cobalt and Chūsei had stopped as well to see what the girl would do.

"Lapras, use-"

* * *

_"How could I have been so stupid?!" _she thought.

This was something Mauve had completely forgotten about: Lapras' attacks. She never even bothered to check.

_"Great. Now me, this kid and his Growlithe are all going to die."_

Lapras, however, had another idea.

A small ring of water began to form in it's mouth. It got larger and larger until it was large enough to fit Mauve inside, and fired it directly at one of the Mankey.

Upon impact, the small pig nosed Pokémon went flying, much to Mauve's amazement as well as the boy and his Pokémon. This gave Lapras a smirk.

Another Water Pulse took out a whole half of the colony, and another to the last half, leaving Primeape a sitting Psyduck, but it wouldn't go without a fight. It said so by landing a formidable Focus Punch on Lapras.

But Lapras wasn't one to give up so easily either.

This time when water began forming in Lapras' mouth, it came out as a straight and powerful stream of water, leaving Primeape dizzy-eyed with the rest of his crew.

Mauve was ecstatic,

"Oh my Arceus, Lapras you did it!"

"I will say that was pretty impressive."

Mauve and Lapras both turned to the boy and his Growlithe.

"Water Pulse and Water Gun. Didn't think a little Lapras had it in him."

"Thanks and all, but how do you know it's a boy?"

"Oh I don't. Lapras are gender less. No one can tell, I was simply guessing."

"You weren't kidding about the whole "studying" thing were you?"

"Nope. That's why I'm heading to Celadon University. I want to study Pokémon instead of battling them."

"Oh! I used to live in Celadon! But why don't you like battling? They're so much fun! You could actually learn a lot from battle too."

"I just...don't know if if I have it in me."

"How do you know?"

"I just don't I guess."

The boy looked down at Growlithe,

"Besides, if anything were to happen to Chūsei, I would never forgive myself."

Mauve went and knelt down to Chūsei's level and scratched his head,

"You really care about him don't you?"

"He's my best friend. Been that way since day one."

He looked up at Lapras,

"And I can see that this is day one with your Lapras, isn't it?"

Mauve had gotten slightly embarrassed,

"Yeah. Kind of weak, isn't it?"

"Not at all. If you're a beginning Trainer it doesn't matter to me. At least it likes you."

"Yeah."

Mauve stood up to face the boy,

"I'm Mauve."

"Cobalt."

"Ha! I get it like the shade of blue right?"

"It's actually because of my eyes, but it's all the same. Mauve's actually soft a shade of violet."

"Huh. I thought my folks just named me that because it sounded pretty."

Cobalt then started looking worried again, and quickly looked down at his PokéGear,

"Shit! We're gonna be late!"

He turned to Chūsei,

"I know you hate being in your Pokéball buddy, but we have to go!"

He quickly returned his Growlithe to it's Pokéball and checked his PokéGear again,

"Ugh! Even if we walk there's not enough time. Unless..."

Cobalt's eyes had wandered down to Mauve's bike.

Mauve had caught on immediately after this,

"Oh don't even think-"

Cobalt quickly grabbed Mauve's bicycle and was already a yard ahead of her before she could stop him.

"Hey stop, that's mine!"

"I'm sorry! I'm going to be late if I don't! I'll leave it by the docks for yoooouuu!"

He had left Mauve's sight.

As angry as she was, she quickly returned Lapras to its Pokéball and ran after Cobalt at top speed.

* * *

After finally reaching the docks, Cobalt and Chūsei searched frantically for the ship they were to board.

Of course, riding a bicycle in the middle of a crowded dock was a very good way to run into someone-

"Hey you! Watch where you're goin'!"

Cobalt stopped when he had accidently ran over someone's foot.

He looked over to see that the foot's owner was either a tall human being or a small Ursaring. The person had messy dirty blonde hair and must have stood over six feet tall; you could just barely see his small brown eyes that spoke that he was just asking for trouble.

"I'm sorry, I was in a hurry. Hey could you tell me where Port 7 is? I'm looking for the ship going to Vermillion City, Kanto?"

"What do I look like to you, a map? Look for it yourself! Least you could do is say you're sorry."

"I just did, what are you deaf?"

"Oh, so you're calling me, Dwayne, "deaf" now are ya smartass?!"

Cobalt was unfazed by this brute, but this had left Chūsei growling. Chūsei would only ever growl at someone he didn't like or have a good feeling about.

"No, I'm calling deaf because you obviously have selective hearing and like to hear yourself talk."

The people of the crowd began moving out of the way; this was about to get serious.

"That's it! Time to teach this kid a lesson in pain, Tazer!"

Dwayne took out an Ultra Ball, and unleashed a furry, yellow creature: Electabuzz.

"Thunderbolt!"

Electabuzz charged up and fired a large lightning bolt at Cobalt who was fortunate enough to leap off of the bike before the attack hit, but it fried the bicycle.

The people began to scramble away in fear of getting attacked by mistake.

"What the hell was that for?! That wasn't even mine! You could have gotten me killed!"

"Someone needs to teach you how to respect people, and I think that'll be me! Thunderbolt again!"

One after the other, the Electric attacks were getting closer to hitting Cobalt or Chūsei; when would someone stop this? Or would he have to take matters into his own hands?

"Why don't you fight like a real Trainer ya little wuss?!"

"Because unlike you, even if I did fight, I wouldn't be brash, overbearing and attack haphazardly! Some Trainer you think you are; a person like you doesn't deserve to be called "Trainer"!"

"I'M GONNA FRY OFF THAT BIG MOUTH A YOURS! TAZER, THUNDER -!"

"Water Pulse!"

A large ring of water came from behind Cobalt who ducked out of its way and turned back to face his oppponents be soaked in water.

"Gah, what the hell-?!"

Mauve was standing behind Cobalt along with Lapras. She walked up to face Dwayne at Cobalt's side,

"It's what you get for trying to hurt innocent people! You don't deserve to call yourself a Trainer, you're just a bully!"

Dwayne then saw Mauve after brushing his eyes out from the water,

"Ohoho, I didn't know I was having it out with a cute little Fennekin like you! How's about you and I ditch this loser instead and go and get a soda or somethin'?"

Mauve actually started to get an eager look in her eyes,

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea!"

She turned for a second before,

"Let me just-"

***PUNCH***

Dwayne fell down quickly with a loud **"thud"**.

Tazer was still able, and didn't take his master falling at the hands of some girl well.

Electricity crackled off its fur, but before it could strike, Tazer was engulfed in flames.

Cobalt looked over and saw that Chūsei had caused the attack. He still eyed Tazer the Electabuzz with a death glare and snarls warning to strike again if it got up.

After turning back to Cobalt however, Chūsei went from being an aggressive to the happiest Growlithe this side of the island.

"Good boy Chūsei. Good boy." Cobalt said while scratching behind Chūsei's ears.

"Ugh..."

Dwayne had slowly risen, though he still looked dizzy from the blow to his head; blood was flooding from his lip. He still glared at Mauve and Cobalt before saying,

"You got lucky this time around here kid. But someday I will battle you."

He returned the fallen Electabuzz to its Pokéball before getting on a motorcycle,

"But next time, don't expect your girlfriend here to bail you out!" he said as he rode off from the docks.

"I'm/She's not his/my girlfriend!"

The two were quiet for a minute before Cobalt spoke up,

"Thanks for helping me out there."

"No problem. What a piece a work that guy is, right?"

"You said it before me."

He turned back to Chūsei,

"Come on buddy we gotta go before-"

_"Port Seven, now leaving the area."_ the PDA sounded.

The blood had drained from Cobalt's face as he fell to his knees.

"We...didn't make it?"

Mauve came to his side,

"Oh, Cobalt I'm really sorry."

Cobalt went and sat at the end of the pier,

"Now I'm gonna have to wait until the next ship leaves for Kanto in a whole month."

Chūsei went to give Cobalt support but to no avail.

"Maybe I could let you ride with me on Lapras and we could catch up-"

"Impossible. That ship must be going about 40 knots by now."

"Um, I'm pretty sure that Lapras can keep up-"

"That's nearly 50 miles per hour Mauve! And besides that ship was going to take me all the way to the port in Vermillion! Do you have any idea how far that is from the island? Lapras isn't _that_ strong yet. By the looks of it, he's still quite young anyway."

"Okay, one: 50 miles per hour is a little fast don't you think? Two: how do you know how young-know what, nevermind."

"It's basically a large speedboat only taking a few people. I know a lot on Pokémon, like I said before."

He sighed depressingly, looking out to the horizon as the Sun set halfway.

Mauve did actually feel bad for Cobalt. She knew how badly he wanted this and now he had missed his chance.

That was when the idea had popped into her head,

"Cobalt, get your sorry ass up."

Cobalt and Chūsei turned to her to give her an odd look.

"I have a better idea for you so quit sulking! You need to hear this!"

He got up,

"What?"

"You're going to Celadon U, right?"

"Yeah, why? Need my acceptance letter?"

"No, no, no. Look, you go there to study Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah, what are you getting at?"

"I'm saying, why not come with me on my journey to compete in the Taiyō no Shima Gym Challenge and document the whole thing!"

Cobalt's eyes widended,

"Holy Mew, that's gotta be the greatest idea I've ever heard!"

"Now Cobalt, look my in the eyes." Mauve said in a sudden serious tone.

Cobalt did look into her soft purple eyes.

"Will you, Cobalt, come with me on my journey and assist me when I'm in need of help?"

"...Yes."

Mauve jumped for joy,

"Yay! Then it's settled. We start in the morning, the greatest journey of all time!"

The Sun dipped into the sea; the stars and Moon had began to come out. It looked like it was going to be a pretty clear night.

As they were walking however,

"Hey Cobalt?"

"Yeah?"

"Where's my bike?"

* * *

After receiving many injuries from Mauve, Cobalt was at the desk of his conjoining room to Mauve's with Chūsei on the end of the bed asleep as wrote in one of his notebooks (red),

"**DAY ONE: March 27, 2014 9:53 P.M.**

**_I have decided in my quest for knowledge on Pokémon that I shall join a new friend of mine, Mauve, on her journey to compete in the local Gym Challenge. Her Lapras appears to be very well adjusted to her command despite being so young. In any case however, I'm proud to say that I'm glad that I accepted Mauve's offer. My name is Cobalt, and I'm on a journey to document the journey of a Pokémon Trainer in the making._**"


	2. Chapter 2

**"Of First Pokémon, Crushes, and Gym Badges"**

* * *

"Cobalt, wake up!"

A large splash of water from Lapras later, and Cobalt was up and fuming. Mauve had somehow gotten into his room and was sitting back comfortably in the desk chair despite the fact that she didn't have a key,

"**WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?! AND HOW DID YOU GET INTO MY ROOM?!**"

"Chūsei let me in, he's a really smart Pokémon. And you wouldn't wake up to let me in! I want to hurry up and get going!"

"There's this idea called patience! You might want to consider trying it!"

"Are you done?"

Cobalt settled,

"*Sigh* Yes. I'll be down in a minute, just let me shower-"

"Okay, Lapras!"

"**IN A REGULAR SHOWER THANK YOU VERY MUCH!"**

* * *

A quick shower later, Cobalt and Chūsei were walking out of the Pokémon Center doors.

"Finally! Let's get this show on the road!" Mauve cheered as she started walking with Cobalt back onto the dirt path.

"Someone's sure in a good mood today."

"And there's a good reason for that,"

Mauve dug into her bag and pulled out a handful-five to be precise-Pokéballs,

"I'm gonna catch my first Pokémon today! And you're going to help me!"

"Okay, what type of Pokémon did you have in mind?"

Mauve drew a blank expression,

"Uh...I don't know yet..."

"Alright, let me help and this will be much easier. Pokémon Trainers are only allowed six Pokémon with them at a time. There're eighteen types of Pokémon known so far, and it's important to think strategy wise. You already have Lapras who's a Water and Ice-type who can also learn a few Psychic-type moves. That's already three out of eighteen, which helps narrow things down a bit."

Mauve still didn't seem to change faces,

"I'm not trying to sound dumb or anything, but...could you make it sound easier for me, please?"

"I can try. Basically all you have to do is find Pokémon who can learn a bunch of different moves, and are pretty powerful. But is there any Pokémon who you REALLY want?"

"Well," Mauve said digging a copy of "_Taiyō no Shima's Pokémon and Where To Find Them!_"

Cobalt had a copy of this book himself, but lost it a couple of years ago. He didn't really need it for anything but his black book entrys which next to his writings contained his sketch of the Pokémon. "_Taiyō no Shima's Pokémon and Where To Find Them!_" didn't really give much knowledge about the Pokémon; just a large picture that took up most of the eight-by-eleven-inch page with a small map of the islands where the Pokémon could be located.

The islands had different types of terrains and climates to them, much like the different regions. Hajimari, for example, was an island of flat level plains and farmland with the occasional hill and flakes of thin forest. Finding a Pokémon here wouldn't exactly be the hardest depending on what you were looking for.

Mauve continued to flip through the different pages until she stopped at page thirty-six and handed the book to Cobalt,

"I want this one."

He was hoping that page thirty-six would show a Pokémon that was a little more impressive than a Dedenne.

He gave her a non-amused look,

"Really? That's what you're going for?"

"Well, why not? Dedenne are SO cute! Plus their the only Electric and Fairy-types available! That's talking strategy like you said, right?"

"*Sigh* Alright, I will see what we can do."

Cobalt pulled out his black book once again and found the seven hundred and second entry,

"**_Dedenne: The Antenna Pokémon. An Electric and Fairy-type. Using its tail to absorb electrical power from either homes or power plants, it attacks by firing the energy it has collected through its whiskers. Their whiskers also allow them to communicate with others by sending and recieving radio waves from far and near distances._**"

"See how useful it will be?" Mauve grinned.

"Maybe from your point of view, but I still think you should catch yourself a Shinx or something. Maybe even a Pikachu for Arceus' sake."

"You're just not seeing it the way I am! Dedenne's an Electric and Fairy-type, whereas Pokémon like Shinx and Pikachu are both pure Electric-types. Being a dual type Pokémon gives Dedenne more of a move diversity, isn't that what you told me to look for in the first place? And even if I did want a Pikachu, I couldn't help but feel as though I'd be copying off of Red."

"Who?"

Mauve looked taken aback,

"Red? As in the reigning Champion of the Pokémon League in Kanto? Famed Pokédex Holder?"

"Never heard of him."

"But, he's a hero! Do you have any idea how many times he and his friends have saved the world?"

"Look, I don't know who any of those people are. Back to the subject, other Pokémon like Magnemite and Chinchou are dual Electric-types, and they evolve into more powerful Pokémon. Why can't you just go look for one of them?"

"Because! Dedenne's WAY cuter than those other ones you just listed off. And I just think those Pokémon are...weird."

"You do also realize that Dedenne being part Fairy-type gives it a weakness to Poison-types, right-?"

"**QUIT QUESTIONING MY CHOICES AND HELP ME FIND IT!**"

* * *

The two searched high and low, near and far but to no avail. They found Doduos, Pidgeys, Sentrets, Rattatas, Zigzagoons, and the occasional Bug-type such as Sewaddle, Spewa, or Caterpie. But no Dedenne.

Mauve rushed and thoroughly searched the bushes at the edge of the woods. She looked as if she was about to cry,

"It has to be here somewhere! Ugh, why can't I find it?!"

"Don't you mean why can't we find it? I'm looking too you know."

Mauve slowly looked over her shoulder at Cobalt with an expression saying that she didn't need his smartass attitude at the moment.

"Nevermind..."

"Hey, wait a minute! Why don't you have Chūsei try and sniff one out?"

"Huh, I never thought of that. Good idea!"

Cobalt took out Chūsei's Pokéball and clicked the center button, releasing the small puppy Pokémon.

"Alright buddy, I need you to go find this Pokémon for Mauve." He said, showing Chūsei a picture of Dedenne, "Don't hurt it, just lead us to one of them."

Chūsei barked, understanding his orders and vanished into the tall grassy fields.

It was beginning to take longer than expected. After a while, Cobalt had to join Mauve again to search. He wasn't worried about Chūsei though, he'd be back before nightfall and never stray too far from his owner.

Mauve had finally given up,

"I guess we'll have to look for something else in the morning. They must not be on this island."

Cobalt felt bad for Mauve, seeing her so sad over a Pokémon he didn't even think was very powerful.

"Well," she said, "better set up camp."

Cobalt however, didn't like the way this sounded,

"Whoa, hang on a minute. I never agreed to camping out. I assumed that we would be staying a Pokémon Center each night. I'm NOT the camping type."

"Well, you're going to have to be. The nearest Pokémon Center is nearly three miles away from here, and I'm not walking all the way back through the dead of night just so you can get your beauty sleep! And the good news is, I bought an extra sleeping bag for you anyway. Now help me set up the tent."

Cobalt unwillingly agreed to helping her, seeing is how he didn't have much of a choice,

"This is going to be cruel and unusual punishment."

* * *

After setting up the large blue tent at the edge of the forest where they had searched, Mauve threw her things in on one side of the divided tent before Cobalt placed his items neatly in the other.

He had taken the liberty of starting a fire. He and Mauve sat on a large fallen log, waiting for Chūsei to return,

"Good thing there's a divider in the tent." He said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't want you seeing anything you shouldn't."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"And just what makes you think that I'm that type of guy?"

"Please, you boys are all alike. Halting at the first sight of-"

"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm the type of person who has more respect for himself than that. Besides, I have my eyes set on others anyway."

Cobalt REALLY shouldn't have said that.

Mauve hopped over closer to Cobalt's side with widened eyes. Apparently this was a more important topic than thinking that Cobalt was perverted,

"Oh yeah? What's her name?" she asked.

Cobalt started to redden in embarrassment,

"No one in particular. It's none of your business."

"Ohoho, but I want it to be my business! Come on, who's the lucky lady?"

"...Erika-"

"Hold on, do you mean the Celadon City Gym Leader, Erika?!"

"Yeah, she's pretty. Why?"

"**HAHAHAHAHA! OH MY ARCEUS THAT IS ADORABLE!**"

"Keep your voice down! And why is it so funny?!" Cobalt whispered, not wanting to attract any unneeded wild Pokémon who were probably asleep in the trees above.

"I'm sorry it's just-I mean, don't you find it funny how you like Fire-types and she specializes in Grass-types? It's just so cute!"

"Yeah I guess if you're looking at it that way, but her and I have a lot in common. We both study Pokémon, and the best part is that she gives lectures at Celadon U! That's why I'm heading there instead of some small, two-bit technical school for study. Like the one in Sandgem."

"Anyone else?"

"Well, Erika isn't my only option. I really like the Lavaridge Gym Leader-"

Mauve had once again laughed,

"Flannery? Okay, even you must think that that's cute besides me."

"You say that about everything."

"Touché."

"I'm glad you think that my interests are amusing. Be sure I laugh at you the next time I overhear you talking about all the boys you're in love with."

A howling noise echoed through the air; a very familiar howl to Cobalt,

"Chūsei's found one. Sounds like he's close."

Instead of leading the two to what they were looking for, the Growlithe had made it back before Mauve could get her bag and was sitting in front of the tent with the small orange rodent Pokémon at his side.

Mauve took the small puppy in her arms and nearly squeezed the life out of him,

"Aw Chūsei, I love you!"

He made a painful whining noise to show that he agreed before being set back onto the ground.

Mauve then set her sights on the task at hand: catching Dedenne.

"Alright, Dedenne! You're mine!" Mauve proclaimed, but before she could throw the ball,

"**STOP!**"

Mauve turned to Cobalt who had stopped her for some unknown reason,

"What? I'm kinda in the middle of something here!"

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

Mauve slapped her forehead for forgetting something as obvious as that.

She took out Lapras' Pokéball and released the large blue creature in front of Dedenne, acknowledging that the battle had begun.

"Alright, Lapras, use Water Gun!"

Lapras doused Dedenne who was blasted back quite a couple feet from the sheer force.

Dedenne retaliated with Thunder Shock which actually seemed to faze Lapras for a moment.

"Hm. If it already knows Thunder Shock, then it must be at about level seven or just a bit higher. It doesn't look that strong." Cobalt observed.

Dedenne must have heard this and turned to Cobalt with an angry expression and tried to zap him with another Thunder Shock.

"Gah! See, I told you not to get this one!"

"Lapras, use Water Pulse!"

The ring of water hit Dedenne which also knocked it back. It then started to walk around randomly and had a strange expression on its face; its eyes didn't look the same as before. Dedenne was confused.

"Huh? Dedenne, what's wrong?"

"Water Pulse has a twenty percent or so chance of confusing the target. This may actually help you catch it. I think now would be the best time, because it's not looking too good."

Cobalt was right; Dedenne kept running into a nearby tree as if it wasn't even there.

"Okay! Dedenne's mine!"

The red-and-white sphere hurtled at the confused Pokémon; vanishing into a blue light. It shook once and was caught.

"Yes! I finally have a Dedenne!"

"Good job."

* * *

After celebrating with a round of smores, Mauve and Cobalt went into the tent to get some rest.

Healing Dedenne immediately after the battle, Mauve had it out to sleep with like a stuff animal. Unlike Cobalt, Mauve seemed to adore Dedenne.

Just as Cobalt was about to fall asleep however, he saw a light on in Mauve's side.

"There, you like it?" Mauve said, probably to Dedenne.

"Hey, is something wrong?" he asked without moving.

"No, why? You're still up?"

"Yeah, I saw the light and I thought something was up."

"Huh? Oh no, it's nothing. I'm just working on something."

Cobalt sat up,

"Can I see?"

"Promise not to laugh?"

"Yes, even though you do it to me constantly."

"This's different."

"Fine. Are you...decent?"

"Yes."

Cobalt unzipped the divider and saw that Mauve had a paint set out with the light to help her paint...her Pokéballs?

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing, this is just a hobby of mine."

"What are you painting them for? Won't that block their vision of the world outside?"

"No, this is a very special type of paint. It's thick enough so the color is thick from a distance, but they can still see the outside."

"Oh. That's really cool! How are you painting them? Do you have a specific style?"

She tossed one up in the air for Danny to catch a blue-and-lighter-blue Pokéball; Lapras could be seen inside. The detailing of the paint was just perfect. Only the red top and the white bottom had been painted over. The black lining and the central button had been perfectly spared.

"This is really good? What's with the color code though?"

"Okay, the top is painted over depending on the first type the Pokémon is. If it's one type, I color the top and leave the bottom one white as it is. But since Lapras is a Water and Ice-type...do you get it now?"

"Yeah, I do. That's actually really cool."

"Thanks."

"Alright, see you in the morning then."

Cobalt zipped the divider back down, and laid back in his sleeping bag with Chūsei once again sleeping at the end like he always would. Sleep would have came easier to the two if Mauve would stop baby-talking Dedenne for the next hour. It was going to be a long night the way it sounded.

* * *

Mauve couldn't have Lapras pour water on him again, no, Dedenne just had to wake up Cobalt with an electric shock,

"**AH! WHAT THE HELL?!**"

Dedenne simply laughed at Cobalt, who then tried grabbing the electric rodent,

"**I'M GONNA TEAR THOSE WHISKERS OFF A YOU ONE BY-!**"

"**ENOUGH!**"

Mauve landed a hard blow on Cobalt's head before he could react, making him fall to the ground in pain.

"Ow..."

"Don't you **dare** touch Dedenne!"

"Well, if you didn't hear me before, that little shi-"

"Eh, eh, eh!"

"_Pest_, nearly shocked me to death! Why couldn't you catch something else besides that stupid little rat?!"

"Because, look at him!"

Mauve held Dedenne out in front of Cobalt, which was making faces at him,

"He's like a little baby! He needs all the love he can get!"

"What I can give him instead is a power chord to shove up his-"

"**COBALT!**"

"Oh please, he's an Electric-type! It's not like he would care!"

* * *

Back onto the dirt road, with Chūsei and Dedenne out, Cobalt and Mauve had made it to the main city on Hajimari; Tumblegrass Town.

"This place isn't very big."

"It's not supposed to, Hajimari one of the smallest islands in the Taiyō no Shima. Not a lot of space to build cities or much else."

"What does that even mean anyway?"

"It means, "island of the Sun". Cool name for it, right?"

"I guess."

A crowd of people were gathered around a small TV shop, all staring through the glass window, sometimes going, "Oh!" "Whoa!" "Aiya!"

Mauve had wandered over without Cobalt's knowledge; he caught up with her after realizing a few minutes after that she had gone.

"What's the big attraction?" Mauve asked trying to break through the crowd.

A little boy about the age of ten looked toward Mauve from the left side of the crowd,

"Don't you know a Gym battle when you see one? Especially one from Hadley?"

Mauve jumped for joy when she heard the words "_Gym battle_".

"Where's this Hadley's Gym? Does anyone know?"

"It should be right down the road," Cobalt said looking at the map, "The Tumblegrass Gym. Leader, Hadley, "_The Farmin' Tamer of Wild Plant Pokémon!_" It says."

They started down the road again.

"Hmm, a Grass-type Gym Leader..." Mauve said, gathering her thoughts.

"I don't like your odds."

"What, why? You said Lapras was pretty powerful for its age! And I'm sure Dedenne-"

"That's not what I meant, Mauve." Cobalt said stopping and turning to her side, "You need to think strategy if you want to beat the Gym Leaders. Your Pokémon don't match up at all with a Grass-type, and even then, who knows what kind he's got."

"You could've been more supportive..." Mauve pouted.

"Look, I'm just trying to keep you from making a complete fool out of yourself."

"Well then what do I do?"

"This is the easy part; all you have to do is find a Pokémon around here that can beat a Grass-type. That's,"

Cobalt scrambled to get his black book which was held in the side pocket of his backpack. He opened it and flipped the pages until he reached the last few pages, and put on his reading glasses,

"'Swear I should've had this memorized by now-anyway, the types of Pokémon that can beat a Grass-type are: Bug, Poison, Flying, Ice, and my personal favorite, **Fire**. That's five different weaknesses, and I'm pretty sure that we can find some of those types around here if we look."

This seemed to cheer Mauve up immediately,

"Then let's go and catch us a...Flying type!"

Cobalt was confused,

"What was with the-"

"I had to think of the type I wanted, silly!"

"Well sometimes it's not always getting Pokémon that you _want_, often times it's Pokémon that you _need_."

"Unless I find the right Pokémon!" Mauve said running back into the woods at the edge of town.

"I swear, Chūsei, that girl just never stops trying to prove me wrong."

* * *

"Okay, there's a variety of Flying-types that often flock from other regions, mainly Kalos, to here."

Cobalt was struggling to keep up with Mauve, as she seemed to glide on the forest floor,

"I know there's a few Spearows, Pidgeys, Starlys, and Fletchlings on the island. There's also some Doduos if you want to catch something a bit more native since they can't exactly fly."

Mauve had suddenly stopped, making Cobalt nearly run into her back, but there was in fact a good reason as to why she stopped,

"Absolutely." she said with desire, "Dedenne, use Thunder Shock!"

Mauve released Dedenne and the battle was on. It began with a Wing Attack from the opposer which did only minimal damage. The small rodent had nearly took-out the Pokémon, and even paralyzed it. One Pokéball made it a successful capture.

Even Cobalt was glad to see Mauve had caught a Pokémon that would serve more useful than Lapras or Dedenne.

"Mauve," he said, still standing behind her as she cheered about her new Pokémon, "I think you're ready."

* * *

The Tumblegrass Gym wasn't exactly much, but it was...unique...

The "road" that was supposed to lead Mauve and Cobalt to the Gym was in actuality, a long dirt path that went straight to a large farming refinery.

"Uh...where's the Gym?" Mauve asked.

"I guess we could ask one of the workers." Cobalt suggested.

It just so happened that a pair of them were coming to the entrance on an orange and black golf cart. The workers stopped seeing is how they were blocked by the two teens,

"Is there something we can help you two with?" the one on the driver's side called over the roar of the engine before he switched it off.

"Hey, we're looking for the Gym. We were told that it was supposed to be here, and we may have went the wrong way."

"Oh, is that all." the other on the passenger's side laughed. He grabbed a walkie-talkie and spoke into it,

"Hey Boss, we got a couple out here who're lookin' for some action! What do ya say ta that?"

"_...Huh? Oh, right! Let 'em in, let 'em in!_"

"You two may wanna sit on back," the left one said patting the back of the golf cart.

Mauve and Cobalt proceeded to sit together in back with Mauve on the left and Cobalt in right.

"This can't seriously be the Gym, can it?" Cobalt asked.

"You may be surprised how different Gyms can be. The one in Celadon was a flower shop, so this is no different." Mauve pointed out.

"Sure hope not, or you're in trouble."

"Must you always get the last word?"

* * *

After a long ride down the road, the two were dropped off at an open, vine-covered gate which led to a space lined with concrete walls (which were also vine-covered) and a variety of crops such as wheat and corn. Smaller plants such as beans, tomatoes, etc. were alligned in small rectangular planting pots. And at the end of the space came what appeared to be an entire building made of straw.

The only trouble was,

"Which one do we take?"

It had three different openings. Three paths that could have led Mauve anywhere.

"Pick one at random." Cobalt said.

Mauve did a quick game of "_Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe_" and sure enough picked the one in the center.

She crawled through the tunnel which led to a wooden ladder after a few feet.

Climbing up, she entered a space which appeared to be the inside of a barn. She must have been on the second level, and a boy, probably around the age of thirteen wearing blue shorts, a white T-shirt, and a blue cap spun the other way around, playing a game on his phone at the end of the room,

"Ahem?" Mauve called.

The other Trainer looked up,

"Oh! Sorry, you're the first person here today, wasn't expecting anyone."

"It's okay. Can we battle now?"

"Sure!"

The young boy sent out a Bellsprout as Mauve released her new Pokémon. Having a type advantage and with greater speed, the battle was over shortly.

"Wow! You're really good!"

Mauve giggled,

"Thanks, can I have my Badge now?"

"Uh...I'm not the Gym Leader, I'm just a Trainer. You went down the wrong tunnel."

Mauve had fallen over in embarrassment.

"At least you know he's not in here, just go back down and go in another tunnel. One of them's bound to lead you to him!"

So Mauve did just that, and went into the tunnel on the right, which also lead her to another Trainer with a Sunkern and a Oddish. All that was left was the centeral tunnel, which after the battle between her new Pokémon and a Exeggcute and a Hoppip.

"If he wasn't the Gym Leader, then who is it?!"

"You obviously finished all of the tunnels. Hadley must not be in any of them." Cobalt said.

"Ugh! Where is he?!"

While Mauve was stressing out over not finding Hadley, Cobalt noticed something odd; something that had caught his eye,

"Hey, Mauve. Are you positive that you checked ALL of the tunnels?"

"Yes! Why would I lie about that?!"

"Because I'm saying that you _missed _one."

"Wha-?"

Cobalt led her to the right tunnel and stuck his hand through the straw; the other side was hollow. He and Mauve dug their way through to find the center and largest part of the barn: the battle field.

They heard movement coming from the second floor, and soon the first Trainer Mauve faced, Roy, was looking down at the pair,

"Hey, you made it! Garrett, she made it through!"

"Oh, finally!" Garrett, the blonde-haired tall guy with a face full of freckles, said coming to look from the left side of the third floor,

"Yo, Darcy! She made it to Hadley's!"

"Oh, really? Cool! Be over in a second!" a voice from the floor above Roy's spoke.

"I see someone finally showed up!" a new voice said.

Cobalt and Muave both looked to the south end of the barn to see a new person had appeared.

He had looked a bit older than Cobalt, probably around nineteen. He had near shoulder length shaggy dark brown hair, brown eyes, lean, and like Garrett, had a noticeably freckled face. He wore a pair of blue jean overalls over a grey T-shirt and also a pair of brown leather boots. He looked over and saw Cobalt and lit up,

"Cobe?"

Cobalt finally caught on and recognized his nickname,

"Wait, Hadely? **You're** the Gym Leader?!"

They both walked up,

"Man are you sure a sight for sore eyes! What've you been up to?" Hadely asked.

"Oh you know, taking care of Mom and Chūsei. I've also been out helping Mauve over here with her journey. She's the one looking for a Gym battle and doesn't have any other Badges, so you probably should go easy on her."

"Oh wow, Cobe! Nice to see ya pitch in like that! And no offense but if I do say so myself, she is definately quite a looker!"

"Wait, what?"

Hadely nudged Cobalt's shoulder.

"Dude, she's not my girlfriend!"

"Uh, can someone please explain to me what's going on here?" Mauve asked running up to the two.

"Oh my lands, I do apologize ma'am, just havin' ourselves a little family reunion here is all!" Hadely laughed.

"Huh?"

"We're cousins." Cobalt stated.

"Wow, really?"

"Well technically I am from his mama's side if you wanna be technical like that, but yep! We're cousins alright! Dad owns the company you saw outside, and he let me run the Gym after it was closed down!"

"That's awesome."

"Sure is! So, Cobe, you think I should take her on?"

Cobalt looked at Hadely for a minute,

"You're talking about a **battle**, right?"

"Yeah, what'd you think-ohoho you thought I was-and she-nevermind that. Okay, honey, I'll only be using two Pokémon. You can switch out with whoever you like since you're a beginner. You ready?"

"Ready!"

The two stood at each end of the battlefield, waiting to see who would go first.

"Alright then, I choose you, Sunshine!"

Hadely had unleashed a Sunflora, while Mauve was still deciding.

"Alright, I'm counting on you! Go, Taills!"

Mauve threw the Pokéball into the air, releasing the Taillow she had caught in the forest.

"A Taillow, huh? Haven't seen one a them around here. Okay, Sunshine, use Growth!"

The Sunflora's Attack and Special Attack were raised.

"Wing Attack!"

Sunny was battered horribly by Taillow harshly brushing the Sun Pokémon.

"Absorb!"

A green energy flooded out of Taillow and was sent into Sunflora, who recovered slightly from Wing Attack.

"Peck!"

Pecking Sunflora seemed to lower it back down to it's earlier state.

"Ah, we're just gonna run into the same situation! Use, Flower Shield!"

"Uh..." Mauve looked confused.

"Jus' so you know, darlin', Flower Shield raises the Defense of the other Pokémon in my team."

"Oh. One more Wing Attack, Taills!"

One last hit, and Sunflora had gone down.

"Nice job there, honey."

"Thank you." Mauve giggled. Hadely was such a flirt.

"Alright, come one out, Rosy!"

Out of the next Pokéball came a Roselia.

"We still got this, Taills!"

"Hm. Use, Toxic."

A purple liquid was sprayed all over Taillow, badly poisoning it.

"Peck!"

Taills' attack hit, but Rosy was a bit stronger than Sunshine.

"Mega Drain."

The Taillow's health was once again sucked out. It fell to the ground.

"Taills!"

"You still got one more at least, right?"

Mauve returned Taills to it's white-and-light blue Pokéball, and took out,

"Oh no." Cobalt complained as she released Dedenne.

"You better hope this little fella's got it in 'im! Use Toxic Spikes!"

Purple spikes were tossed onto Dedenne's side of the battefield.

"Mauve! You can't switch Dedenne out now! Your other Pokémon will be poisoned just like Taills!" Cobalt called out from the stands.

"Alright! Dedenne, use Thunder Shock!"

Zapping Rosy didn't do much damage, though it did seem to paralyze it,

"Oh, nice one! Alright, Rosy, use Poison Sting!"

Poison darts went shooting out of the bulbs where Rosy's hands should have been, and only one of them hit Dedenne directly in the back. It had the same look as Taills now.

"Your little Dedenne's poisoned, may wanna do somethin' about it."

Mauve became frustrated; all of her Pokémon were now going to be either fainted or poisoned. This didn't look good. Until there came a miracle.

Dedenne jumped up, and began tunneling underground,

"Huh?!" Hadely cried.

"What's that?!" Mauve asked.

Cobalt was amazed,

"It's Dig!"

Dedenne erupted from the ground underneath Rosy, launching her into the air.

"Come on Rosy, you can still make it! Use, Mega Drain again!"

"Oh no you don't! Dedenne, try using Dig and Thunder Shock while you're underground!"

Dedenne went back into the Earth, with small signs of static running towards the still-paralyzed Roselia, until the little mouse shot up once again and defeated Rosy. Mauve had won.

"We did it! Good job, Dedenn-OH MY ARCEUS, DEDENNE!"

Dedenne had finally succumed to the poison and had fainted.

Mauve rushed to retrieve her Pokémon, craddling it in her arms,

"Aw, you poor thing. You really must have had a hard time with that poison."

Hadely returned Rosy and walked up to Mauve,

"Honey, you did a good job here today. I think you may want this."

Hadely took a small object out of his pocket,

"This is the Wheat Badge. It'll let your Pokémon listen to you from here on up to level twenty! That even includes ones you're given to in a trade."

The Badge looked like a bushel of wheat that had been tied around twice, maing a narrow 'x' shape.

"Wow, thank you!"

Mauve gave Hadely a hug, which he gladly accepted. He looked over at Cobalt and gave him a thumbs-up, making Cobalt roll his eyes as he walked to the pair.

"And you know what else, Mauve? You're actually the very FIRST person to beat me as this Gym's Leader! That's quite somethin' to be proud of for both of us!"

"That's awesome!"

"Yeah. And ya know what? Since your the first person to beat me, and I don't have a TM to give out...you know what, here, let me show ya somethin'"

The three of them walked into the back room of the barn, which seemed to look more like the back of the company inside; the room was made of metal walls and very clean. Three Pokéballs sat on a table on the right side in a glass case.

Hadely lifted the case off and turned back to Mauve,

"Again, I don't have a TM to give you like all the others do. And since you're the first person to beat me in a Gym Battle, I'm gonna let ya take one of these here Pokémon with ya!"

"Really? Are you sure?"

"I'm positive! Now lookie here,"

He pointed to the one on the left,

"This here's Bellsprout. They're small but pretty quick on their feet."

He pointed to the right one,

"This one's Tangela. He's a pure bred Grass-type and...well I can't say that I know much about him..anyway, last here,"

Hadely now pointed to the one in the center,

"Is Budew. She's the pre-evolution before Roselia, and just the cutest thing you ever did see. Next to you of course that is."

Mauve blushed and giggled at Hadely's comment,

"Hadely, you're such a charmer!" she said before making a more serious face, "But you said it was cute, right?"

"_She's such a girl._" Cobalt thought,

"Cute, Hadely?" Cobalt asked as he noticed that look Mauve would get in her eyes as she looked down at Budew's Pokéball, "I think you said the magic word."

"I'll take this one!" Mauve said grabbing Budew's Pokéball.

"Alrighty then ma'am, you got yourself a Budew. Be sure you take good care of it, you hear?"

"I will, thank you so much!"

"Just one little thing though."

He took Budew's Pokéball for a moment to write something on the back, before giving it back to Mauve,

"There you are ma'am; you have a nice day now!"

"Thanks, bye Hadely!" Mauve said, walking out of the Gym.

Cobalt simply looked back at Hadley,

"Dude, she's sixteen. You're almost three years older than she is."

"Hey man, I call 'em how I see 'em."

"Whatever," Cobalt saied rolling his eyes, "see you around Hadely."

"Hey Cobe, wait a sec!"

"Yeah, what?"

"Look, you still got the hots for that one Gym Leader in Celadon, right? And in Lavaridge?"

"Yeah, I told Mauve and she wouldn't stop laughing about it."

"Well now that I'm a Gym Leader and member of the Pokémon Association, I can put in a good word for you if you want. We Gym Leaders talk to each other all the time."

Cobalt lit up,

"You'd do that for me?"

"Sure thing man!"

"That'd be great, thanks."

"Just one thing though before you go."

"Yeah?"

"Is Mauve seein' someone right now?"

"Hadely..."

"Oh come on man! Look at her! She's as cute as that Dedenne she's got with her! How can you stand it?!"

"Because she's just someone I'm traveling with, and nothing more. Be sure you keep that good word in for me!"

Cobalt went and joined Mauve at the entrance of the Gym as they started to walk down another path that would lead them...somewhere...

"Good job on the battle." Cobalt said.

"Thanks!" Mauve said; still excited about earning her first Badge.

Dedenne had been healed and was now on her shoulder,

"And good job to you too little guy!" Cobalt said.

"Why are you all the way over there?" Mauve asked when Cobalt had drifted to the other side of the road.

"So that he doesn't shock me, that's why!"

"Oh come on."

"And you know actually, now that he know's Dig, it eliminates his weakness to Poison types, which was why he was able to defeat Rosy so quickly."

"See! Told you he'd come in handy."

"Ah, whatever." Cobalt said before he walked back over to Mauve.

She took out Budew's Pokéball and stared at it.

"I think I'm gonna name you...Buddy!"

"Oh Arceus, no."

"Now what's wrong with that?"

"You're copying off of your new boyfriend."

"He's not my-he's just charming, alright? It's not that I like him _that_ way, I just-"

She stopped.

Cobalt stopped with her,

"What-? Oh Arceus, Hadely, come on!"

On the back of Buddy's Pokéball, Hadely had written "_Call me!_" along with his PokéGear number.

* * *

As Mauve was asleep with Dedenne wrapped around in her arm, Cobalt took out his journal and began writing in it,

"**_DAY THREE: March 29th, 2014. 11:14 P.M._**

**_Apologies for not being here sooner, since a great deal of events have occured in the time I should have been writing in this journal. _**

**_Mauve has made it through the Tumblegrass Gym and was the very first person to defeat the Gym Leader Hadely with the help of Dedenne and her new Taillow, Taills. As well as earning the Wheat Badge, Mauve was also given a Budew named Buddy. I must say, I'm not entirely sure where we're heading next, but from what I've gathered so far in my travels with Mauve; anything can happen._**"

* * *

I'm still open for OC's! Don't hesitate to send them in! Please **review**!


	3. Chapter 3

**"Leaving Home for the Better"**

* * *

"Alright, now according to the Map, the nearest port that'll take us to the next island should be just a few more miles from here."

Cobalt had been studying the Map for a while as he and Mauve continued to trek through the forest.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Mauve asked.

"Eh...judging by how fast we're going now, we should be there in...ugh, I don't know, three hours maybe?"

"What are we supposed to do for three hours?!"

"What do you think? We walk."

"I meant besides that. And I'm not about to play a game of "_Eye Spy_", okay?"

"I never said anything like that-"

Cobalt stopped,

"Mauve, stop." he whispered.

"What?" she asked coming to his side.

"Something's here. Don't move, don't make a sound. Be ready to get Lapras out."

There came a rustle in the bushes up ahead.

Out came a small Litleo.

Mauve couldn't contain herself,

"Oh my Arceus...**THAT HAS TO BE THE CUTEST POKéMON EVER!**"

She released Lapras,

"Use Water Gun!"

Lapras proceeded to shoot water at Litleo, greatly weakening it.

"Alright, time for-!"

Dedenne had suddenly come out of his Pokéball with an irritated expression, and hopped onto Cobalt's shoulder. He reached into his bag, took out a Pokéball, and swatted the ball with its tail at the near-fallen Litleo, capturing it inside.

Both Mauve and Cobalt were stunned as Dedenne popped back inside its Pokéball.

Mauve crushed the Pokéball she was going to use on Litleo in her hand; she was **pissed**,

"**WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!**"

Cobalt walked up and grabbed the Pokéball,

"I think Dedenne made me catch it."

"**YOU?!**"

"That's what it looks like."

He tucked the Pokéball in his pocket alongside Chūsei's. He looked over at Mauve whose face was redder than a Chopple Berry,

"How dare you...catching the Pokémon **I WAS GOING TO CATCH!**"

"Look, it's not like I _meant_ to catch it-"

"**THEN GIVE IT TO ME, NOW!**"

"I can't do that. Not unless we trade. If not, and I know you want to keep your Pokémon, then this little guy belongs to me."

Mauve sat down and curled up her knees to her head.

"Look, to be honest you did say Litleo was "the cutest Pokémon you've ever seen", right?"

"Yes." Mauve said in a muffled voice.

"Well Dedenne might have gotten jealous and...you know one thing led to another and...now this."

Mauve got up with her head still down in disappointment,

"Nevermind. Keep it...I'm sorry Dedenne. I was being stupid."

Dedenne came out again, and curled up on Mauve's shoulder; everything was settled between the two now.

She then looked up at Cobalt with a peculiar glance,

"Hey, why's it that you have Pokéballs? You said you're not a Trainer...you're lying to me!"

"What? No! I told you I study them. Look, I only have five of them so that in the event that on my way to Celadon U I would happen upon an agressive wild Pokémon, and had no other choice, I would catch said wild Pokémon to neutralize it. That's the ONLY reason I would consider taking a Pokéball with me."

Mauve lowered her expression back to normal,

"Oh. I guess that would be a good idea."

"Yep."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the Pokéball,

"Well, better say "Hi" to the new guy."

Clicking the central button, Litleo was released.

It looked around for a moment, only to look up and see Cobalt and immediately identify him as its new owner.

"Hey there little guy, I'm Cobalt. Guess I'm the guy who's gonna be your partner now."

Cobalt then took out Chūsei's Pokéball,

"And this," he said as he clicked the button before Chūsei appeared, "Is Chūsei. We want to be your friends, is that alright with you?"

Litleo stared at Cobalt for a minute, then at Chūsei, and smiled while making a tiny roaring noise.

"Cool. Hm,"

"What is it?" Mauve asked.

"I'm not sure what I should name..." Cobalt lifted Litleo up and looked, "Her. Wait, I have an idea!"

He whipped out his black book, and flipped it to the six hundred and sixty-seventh entry,

"Alright, let's see..."

"**_Litleo: The Lion Cub Pokémon. A Normal and Fire-type,_**"

"Ooo, A Normal and Fire-type, now that's rare." Cobalt grinned at Litleo before he continued reading.

"**_When being challened by a stronger opponent, its small mane will burn intensely with more energy flowing through its body. Once they come of age, they will set off on their own to become stronger and eventually evolve into Pyroars, and have been known to be ones for fighting._**"

"Hm. Not sure that that's enough info...let me see if I can gather something from Pyroar's entry."

"**_Pyroar: The Royal Pokémon. A Normal and Fire-type. Upon evolution from Litleo, Pyroars grow a larger mane of fire. The males have larger manes while the females have smaller ones, making their gender differences easier to identify. Typically the Pyroar with the largest mane serves as the ruler of the group or "pride". While the females help capture food, they also tend to the Litleo until they come of age and leave the pride, the males normally assist in hunting, and often times appear to be responsible leaders. They will viciously attack anything that steps into their territory or any challenger, and have a fiery ten thousand degree breath. They're also known for being symbols of nobility and royalty._**"

"Jeez, that's a lot of stuff you have written down in there." Mauve commented, "How'd you learn all of that anyway?"

"Eh, Pokémon Planet mostly. The other stuff I searched off of the Internet. Sort of combined the two."

"Oh. Did you find enough to pick out a nickname?"

"I think."

Cobalt stared down at Litleo for a good five minutes or so before finally saying,

"I'm gonna name you...Ōhi. Is that good?"

Litleo nodded its head, and smiled.

"Then I guess that's settled."

"Why Ōhi?" Mauve asked.

"Ōhi means 'queen' in Japanese. See the way _I_ do to nickname my Pokémon is naming them after something that has to do with them. It's really simple."

"Oh. That's cool."

"Yeah. Well, guess we better get going." Cobalt said as he returned both Chūsei and Ōhi.

As they started walking, Mauve caught up and came to Cobalt's side,

"What is it with you and Fire-types anyway? You said they were your favorite; why is that?"

Coablt stopped for a minute, a sullen look appeared in the back of his eyes,

"My father. My mom once told me that he was a great Trainer with a love for Fire-types, and then he died sometime after I was born. I don't know why though. Mom always told me that I reminded her a lot of him, and so I guess I sort of followed in his footsteps. Just not the way I think he'd want me to. *_laughs_* I've actually thought of being a Trainer once before, many times actually. But then I'm always reminded of how great my dad was and how I'd let him down if I wasn't as good."

"Cobalt...I'm sorry. I had no idea."

Cobalt's expression changed back to normal,

"It's alright, you didn't know."

Mauve looked at him oddly,

"You got over that pretty quickly."

"Well as much as I don't like saying, I never really knew my dad, so I don't exactly have a lot to mourn over."

"Oh. I guess..."

They started walking again,

"So what's _your_ favorite type of Pokémon?"

"You know to be honest, I'm not sure. I just like Pokémon that are REALLY cute."

"I know you do. In fact I think EVERYONE knows. I meant a specific type of Pokémon."

"Um...I don't think I have one."

"Well if you like Pokémon that are cute, there're always Fairy-types. Dedenne and all others in that group are usually considered cute anyway so..."

"Oh. Well then I guess that it's settled; Fairy-types are my favorite." Mauve said smiling.

* * *

After a while, Mauve soon took out her xPhone and checking her Mittner account.

Cobalt got curious and looked over,

"What are you on?"

"Mittner. Don't you have one?"

"No. I never bothered with that social media stuff."

"That explains a lot."

"Hey! I happen to have a very good social life, okay? Who all are you following?"

"A few friends from Celadon. Family. Red."

"Who? Oh you mean that guy who were going on about the other day."

"Yeah, and it's not just him it's all his other friends too! Blue, Green, Yellow, Gold...he's a lot of friends on here. Maybe you should set up an account to see what he's doing, that's what I did."

"That's a little creepy."

"No it's not! He's my hero and the reason I became a Trainer in the first place! You have to have a hero too, right?"

"Well actually, there is always the Cinnabar Island Gym Leader, Blaine. He's a Fire-type specialist and a reseacher. I really want to learn from him someday."

"That's cool..."

Mauve laughed at something she saw on her phone.

"What?" Cobalt asked.

"Look."

She handed him her phone showing the picture of a Pikachu wearing a red-and-white ball cap along with another Pikachu who wore a flower behind its ear wearing a straw hat.

"I don't get it. Believe me, even I think Pikachu are cute, but..."

"It's Red and Yellow's Pikachu, Pika and Chuchu!"

"Okay..."

"That's really...just-wow. I can't believe you right now."

She started walking ahead; not in anger but surprise at Cobalt.

"What? Mauve, wait up!"

* * *

Once catching up with Mauve, a tall old man with a balding head lined with white side hair andmustache and wearing a suit had come across them when they were at a crossroad,

"You there, young man! How'd you like to challenge me to a battle?"

"Uh...I'm not a Trainer. She is though." Cobalt said, pointing to Mauve.

"Come on, I'm sure you could fight me if you wanted to! Here, I'll start with you Mightyena!"

Out in a flash of light, appeared the black quadreped Pokémon.

"Let's see," Cobalt said taking out his glasses and black book,

"**_Mightyena: The Bite Pokémon. A Dark-type. Known for being skilled pack hunters in a group of nearly ten, these Pokémon will give obvious signs such as growling and lowering it's ears and body before it linges onto its prey and viciously attacks it. It's life in the wild compels it to completely obey those it recognizes as being strong-skilled when it once followed the pack leader's orders._**"

"Now it's your turn!" the old man said.

Mauve turned to Cobalt,

"I guess I'll fight him for you since you don't know how," she turned back to her challenger, "Lapras!"

Lapras popped out.

"Use, Water Pulse!"

"I was supposed to battle the boy! Use Take Down, Mightyena!"

Water Pulse only slowed Mightyena down before sending Lapras flying.

"That Mightyena must be high-leveled!" Mauve said in shock, "Use Water Gun!"

"Hyper Beam." the old man laughed.

Water Gun didn't stand a chance. The beam of light had left Lapras fried.

After returning Lapras, the old man looked back at Cobalt,

"So, now that your friend's Pokémon is down, are **you** going to fight me?"

"No. I told you I'm not a Trainer, so I don't fight Pokémon with my own." Cobalt said sternly.

"Mm. I've heard enough, come along Mightyena!"

Once he returned his Pokémon, the old man had left, making it seem as though he was never even there.

"What was that all about?" Mauve asked.

"I don't know." Cobalt said in a suspicious tone looking in the old man's direction, "Come on, we gotta hoof it to the port. Sun's almost down."

* * *

Making it to the port, they see the ship they're to board for the island of Kage.

"I know Kage is technically next in line for the Gym Challenge, but do you think we could maybe skip that one? I hear that it's haunted." Cobalt said.

"Haunted?" Mauve asked.

"Yeah. Maybe instead we should head for-"

"No way! I came on this journey to be fearless, and you'll have to do the same thing-!"

"What now?"

Mauve had searched her bag frantically,

"Cobalt...we're out of money..."

"We're what?!"

"Broke. Busted. No money."

Cobalt thought about this for a moment, and then turned back to Mauve,

"Get up."

"What? Why?"

"Because, we're gonna stow away. Follow my lead."

* * *

The two had somehow managed to sneak into the cargo hold of the ship without detection. The ship lacked quite a number of security, which helped a great deal.

"How did you know how to do that?" Mauve asked.

"Improvised I guess." Cobalt smirked.

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait in here until the boat stops at Kage, and then we walk off with everyone else like we were there the whole time. Until then, you better make yourself comfortable because I think we're gonna be here for a while."

* * *

In an outpost near the woods on Hajimari, a man in a lab coat was over looking the security cameras on the West Hajimari docks. he kept replaying the same footage showing Mauve and Cobalt sneaking aboard the ship.

* * *

"**_DAY FOUR: March 30th, 2014 9:58 P.M._**

**_Upon making it aboard the S.S. Hitchhiker in the nick of time, Mauve and I are now awaiting our arrival on the Kage no Shima. There, Mauve may face a haunted island which even I find myself terrified. But as long as I know we're together, I'm sure that I'll keep filling these entries in._**"

* * *

**NAME: [**Cobalt**]**

**GENDER: [**Male**]**

**AGE: [**17**]**

**BIRTHDAY: [**Aug. 19 / Leo**]**

**BIRTHPLACE: [**Hajimari; outskirts of Tumblegrass**]**

**BLOOD: [**AB+**]**

**HEIGHT: [**5'9"**]**

**WEIGHT: [**140 lbs.**]**

**HAIR: [**Black, messy**]**

**EYES: [**Cobalt "named for his eyes", calm, intelligent**]**

**TITLE: [**N/A**]**

**BADGES: [**N/A**]**

**KEY ITEMS:**

— PokéGear

— Black Book

— Reading Glasses

— Town Map

— Port Seven Ship Pass

* * *

**POKéMON:**

**Chūsei / Growlithe: Puppy Pokémon **

**Level: [**20**]**

**Type: [**Fire**]**

**OT: [**Cobalt**]**

**Gender: [**Male**]**

**Ability: [**Flash Fire**]**

**Nature: [**Bold**]**

**Height: [**2'5"**]**

**Weight: [**45.2 lbs.**]**

**Moves:[**Bite, Ember, Growl**]**

**Ohī / Litleo: Lion Cub Pokémon**

**Level: [**14**]**

**Type: [**Normal/Fire**]**

**OT: [**Cobalt**]**

**Gender: [**Female**]**

**Ability: [**Rivalry**]**

**Nature: [**Brave**]**

**Height: [**2'02"**]**

**Weight: [**30.1 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**unknown**]**

* * *

**NAME: [**Mauve**]**

**GENDER: [**Female**]**

**AGE: [**16**]**

**BIRTHDAY: [**March 27 / Aries**]**

**BIRTHPLACE: [**Celdaon City, Kanto**]**

**HEIGHT: [**5' 6"**]**

**WEIGHT: [**110 lbs.**]**

**HAIR: [**Blonde, let down or tied in a high ponytail**]**

**EYES: [**Soft purple, friendly**]**

**TITLE: [**Pokémon Trainer**]**

**BADGES: [**Wheat**]**

**KEY ITEMS: **

— Badge Case

— Tent (sleeping bags)

— Paint Set

* * *

**POKéMON:**

**Lapras: Transport Pokémon **

**Level: [**21**]**

**Type: [**Water/Ice**]**

**OT: [**Mauve**]**

**Gender: [**Gender**]**

**Ability: [**unknown**]**

**Nature: [**Jolly**]**

**Height: [**4' 7.5"**]**

**Weight: [**288.5 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**Water Gun, Water Pulse**]**

**Dedenne: Antenna Pokémon **

**Level: [**15**]**

**Type: [**Electric/Fairy**]**

**OT: [**Mauve**]**

**Gender: [**Male**]**

**Ability: [**Pick Up**]**

**Nature: [**Mischievous**]**

**Height: [**0' 5.1"**]**

**Weight: [**4.8 lbs.**]**

**Moves:[**Thunder Shock, Dig**]**

**Taills / Taillow: Tiny Swallow Pokémon **

**Level: [**16**]**

**Type: [**Normal/Flying**]**

**OT: [**Mauve**]**

**Gender: [**Female**] **

**Ability: [**Guts**]**

**Nature: [**Docile**]**

**Height: [**1' 0"**]**

**Weight: [**5 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**Peck, Wing Attack**]**

**Buddy / Budew: Bud Pokémon **

**Level: [**9**]**

**Type: [**Grass/Poison**]**

**OT: [**Hadley**]**

**Gender: [**Female**]**

**Ability: [**Poison Point**]**

**Nature: [**Lax**]**

**Height: [**0' 6.4"**]**

**Weight: [**2.1 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**Absorb, Growth**]**


	4. Chapter 4

"**Trouble At Sea**"

* * *

With the two teenagers asleep atop two large crates (their sleeping bags adding comfort), they quietly enjoyed the trip.

That was until Mauve shot up, jumped from crate to crate and found a bucket to throw up in.

"Ugh...I hate being sea sick."

She vomited once again after that.

"You probably should eat something starchy to reduce the amount of vomit. And drink lots of water. I hear it helps." Cobalt called out without getting up or opening his eyes.

"Will do..." Mauve said climbing back up to the crate, carrying the bucket up with her.

Mauve had been lucky enough to grab some extra food before the two left Tumblegrass the day before, but for some reason had forgotten to count her money, resulting in the two having to sneak on board the ship and into the cargo hold.

"What can I eat that won't make a reappearance?" Mauve asked.

Cobalt now had his eyes opened and looked over at Mauve,

"Eat those crackers that you grabbed before we left, those are pretty starchy."

"Okay."

Cobalt sat up,

"You know you really should have told me that you get sea sick."

"I didn't know I was until now. I've never been on a boat before."

She continued munching down on the crackers as Cobalt told her to, but he needed to get Mauve some type of medication to stop the vomiting, or else this trip was going to be WAY less than enjoyable. Not only that, but the smell would soon attract people to their location.

He got up and jumped down to the floor.

"What are you doing?" Mauve asked.

"I need to get you something to stop the vomiting. The smell is gonna draw people here. And I don't want you to keep getting sick."

"Okay *_coughs_* be careful."

"Don't worry, I got this. Just stay here and keep yourself hidden."

* * *

On deck, Cobalt and Chūsei wandered around until they could find the medical ward or a Doctor while trying to stay out of the rain storm that was occurring.

It wasn't until one of the workers noticed the two walking around that they were spotted,

"Hey kid!"

Cobalt turned to face one of the sailors.

"What're you doing out here? All guests need to stay in their rooms in this weather."

"I'm looking for medical. My...cousins...sisters friend is getting really bad seasickness. Do you know where it is?"

"Sure it's on the second floor. Take those stairs over there and it should be on the left."

"Thank you!"

Rushing to the stairs, he found the medical ward just as the sailor had said,

"Hello? Is there a Doctor or Nurse here?"

"Yes there is! Be with you in a moment!" a voice said from behind the medicine cabinet.

A tall man with thinning brown hair and large rounded glasses and wearing a Doctor's uniform came from the cabinet and to the front desk. Cobalt stepped forward,

"I need medication for seasickness. I don't have a prescription for anything, but it's pretty bad. Anything you have over-the-counter?"

"Oh yes, yes, yes," the Doctor said as he made his way back to the cabinet with a bottle of Cinnarizine/Stugeron.

"This should help."

"Thank you. Come on, Chūsei."

Before making their way back, Cobalt could have sworn he'd seen something slither under the boat. It didn't give him a good feeling, but he simply brushed it off. Not only that, but the Doctor looked like someone familiar to him.

* * *

Down in the cargo hold, he could see that Mauve was back on her phone, only the bucket was still beside her.

She looked down at Cobalt and Chūsei,

"I threw up again." she whimpered.

"I've got your meds. They said this should help."

Cobalt gave Mauve a bottle of water and two of the pills.

"Thank you."

"You should probably rest for a little bit."

"Okay."

She went back to sleep.

Cobalt had nothing better to do than the same, but rather he hopped onto the next tall crate farther away from Mauve's.

He dug into his bag and took out his old Running Shoe's box. There was something inside that he was going to take out until,

"**CRASH!**"

Something had knocked into the ship.

Mauve shot up almost immediately, though the sudden motion caused her to get sick again,

"*c_oughs_* What was that-?"

"**BANG!**"

This hit actually caused the ship to jerk to a stop.

Cobalt got up and saw that the noise was coming from the center of the left wall. Something was attacking the ship.

"This so isn't helping my sea-*_vomits and coughs_*-sickness!"

"Come on! We have to leave!"

He returned Chūsei to his Pokéball and went to Mauve's crate to help her pack her things up as a small hole in the ship appeared with water beginning to pour in.

* * *

Making their way to the top deck, Cobalt and Mauve could both see people everywhere scrambling all around; panicked about what was going on.

Several sailors were making their way down to the cargo hold, only to be blasted back up the stairs by what appeared to be Surf. Which could only mean that it came from somewhere. And that somewhere had jumped up and made itself known to the public in the form of a large blue Pokémon.

Feraligatr.

"A Feraligatr?!" Mauve said.

Cobalt was frantically flipping through the pages in his book to come up with something helpful,

"**_Feraligatr: The Big Jaw Pokémon. A Water-type and the final evolutionary stage of the Totodile family. Much like its previous forms, Totodile and Croconaw, Feraligatr has powerful jaws it uses to catch prey. It then shakes its head violently to tear its prey apart. Despite being an adapt swimmer, it has a hard time trying to support its own weight on land. It'll get down on all fours, and through the use of its strong hind legs make it faster._**"

"So what do we do?!" Mauve asked.

"It's a Water-type, so it should be weak to Grass and Electric-types!"

"I got it! Dedenne, and Buddy!"

Out of their yellow-pink and green-dark purple Pokéballs.

"Use Thunder Shock and Absorb!"

The attack only seemed to get Feraligatr's attention. One short Water Gun and they were disabled.

"Oh no! What do we do now?!"

"Use Thunderbolt! A voice said.

A large bolt of lightning shot between Cobalt and Mauve, whose hair was nearly singed. Feraligatr went flying back to the wall.

Mauve got up slowly,

"What was that?"

From behind the two stepped a Luxray and its owner. The Luxray looked different than most. It must have been shiny. If Cobalt's memory served correct, the entry would go something like,

"**_Luxray: The Gleam Eyes Pokémon. An Electric-type and the final evolution of Shinx. It's vision has no rival. Once its eyes start glowing a bright gold color, it can literally see through anything, which comes in handy when hunting or keeping track of its young Shinx cubs._**"

Its Trainer was tall with a mess of black hair so shaggy that it nearly concealed his hazel eyes, which had hints of yellow or brown in them; it was hard to tell from Cobalt's position. He wore a black leather jacket over a crimson T-shirt, dark jeans, and a pair of the same brand of Running Shoes worn by Cobalt and Mauve, where instead his were black and red.

"Be ready, Luxray..." he turned to the Pokémon on his left, "Wow, I really need to get around to nicknaming you."

Feraligatr slowly got up; it wasn't defeated just yet.

"You have two choices Feraligatr: either you leave this ship or I will have no choice but to defeat you. And I don't think that a battle is necessary."

Feraligatr simply lowered its head and charged.

"Luxray, Thunder Fang!"

Luxray's teeth began to buzz and glow a bright yellow with static until it sunk its teeth into Feraligatr's skin.

Feraligatr staggered back, but was still standing.

"This is no ordinary Feraligatr. It's too high leveled to be a wild Pokémon." the stranger said.

"That and there aren't even any Feraligatrs in the wild; they're endangered." Cobalt added.

"Right-wait look at that!"

Upon further observation, the "wild" Feraligatr appeared to have a black earpiece in it.

"So it DOES have a Trainer!" Mauve said.

"They're communicating with Feraligatr from a distance through that earpiece." Cobalt said.

"Then we'll fry it! Luxray, give Thunderbolt another go!"

Feraligatr took the hit, and fell. The earpiece had fried and was buzzing and crackling. The Pokémon removed it from its ear, ran to the side of the boat, and jumped back into the ocean.

The stranger scratched Luxray in the back of its ears,

"Good job Luxray. Come to think of it, I think I'll name you...Plasmane."

He looked over at Cobalt and Mauve who were still in awe.

"D'you like my little demonstration?" the stranger grinned.

"That was awesome!" Mauve said.

"Yeah, you must be a pretty talented Mr..." Cobalt started.

"Smith. Zander Smith."

"I'm Mauve and this is Cobalt."

"Nice to meet you two. And thanks for the compliments. Not saying that those Pokémon of yours didn't help me out either."

Mauve looked slightly embarrassed.

Zander walked to one of the sailors,

"Did you secure the leak?"

"Yeah and just in time too! Thank Arceus those other two down there were able to close it!"

"Good, good."

Zander went to the side and looked ahead,

"And it's a good thing too."

He turned back to Cobalt and Mauve,

"Come over here."

They did as he said and looked to where he pointed up ahead.

Kage.

"We've made it to our destination, and in about three...two...one..."

The storm had suddenly come to a halt. The clouds dispersed revealing a bright quarter moon sitting in a sky full of stars.

"Excuse me!" an angry voice spoke up.

The three turned around to see one of the ship's manager of guests (a man with black hair wearing a white uniform), who didn't look happy,

"Those two are not on the list of passengers! As soon as we reach Kage, I want them kicked off of this ship!"

Zander turned back to the other two,

"Allow me."

He spun back on his heel to face the manager,

"They were with me. I must have forgotten to write their names. Or maybe you forgot to check, and if you so much as call them out that way again you won't have eyes to read your lists with." He said as if he were speaking in a normal sentence.

This seemed to get past him. He checked the list again, flipping through the pages frantically,

"I'm so sorry, I must have overlooked it."

"Yes, you must have. Now go and leave us. We're just about here anyway. You probably have other things you should be getting to."

Cobalt turned to Mauve,

"This guy is awesome!"

"Well, sorry for the inconvenience. That'll be all."

The manager scurried away.

"And now, Cobalt and Mauve, we are even." Zander smirked.

"Are you sure? There was the Feraligatr, and now the manager, and all we did was just distract-" Cobalt started.

"Dude, just take it."

* * *

Walking down the platform stairs, Zander was still with Cobalt and Mauve,

"So Mauve, you're on your way to defeat the Gym Leaders and compete in the League Tournament?"

"Yep! I've only got my first Badge, but I'm getting there!"

"And I'm sure you will. If you keep at training your Pokémon, I'm certain you'll move all the way up to the Elite Four. *_laughs_* and maybe even take on the Champion!"

He looked outward toward the dock,

"Well, I better take off. I'm going to see if I can find any clues as to where that Feraligatr's Trainer may be. Cobalt, I want you to keep by Mauve's side, and continue to document her journey. It may be useful to future Trainers for generations to come! Keep up the good work! And Mauve, I don't want you to give up on your dream! Remember to stay strong!"

He released another shiny Pokémon.

It was large and black with red wings and a cream colored under belly. Charizard. Shiny Charizard.

Zander hopped on,

"Sayōnara."

And with that he was gone.

* * *

Just like the first night of the journey, Cobalt and Mauve were both staying at the local Pokémon Center. Cobalt was at the desk filling in the entry,

"**_DAY FIVE: March 31st, 2014 10:04 P.M._**

**_Through the sea, seasickness, and an agressive Feraligatr, we have managed to make our way to the island of Kage. On the ship we were aided by Zander Smith, a strong Pokémon Trainer and his Luxray, Plasmane to defeat said Feraligatr, which came from below the ship and attacked. The Pokémon was revealed to have an earpiece which explains why it was able to take commands and also revealed that it had a Trainer. Why anyone would want to sabotage a luxary cruise ship I have no idea, but Zander has gone to look for the Trainer responsible. Who is Zander, though? In the midst of the sudden attacks between the Feraligatr and the old man who was bent on battling me, I'm beginning to think that there's something else going on here. And I intend to find out just what._**"

* * *

After a long flight on Charizard, Zander had landed on a smaller island far off from Kage. He returned his Charizard (Shadowflame), and walked into thick forest until he reached a small clearing through which a ray of moonlight shone. There was something else there. And Zander was looking straight at it,

"I found a new Trainer today. She seems pretty confident about her journey. Think she'll manage to see me in the arena?"

They made a still face before shifting,

"Yeah that's what I thought too. That boy she's with though, Cobalt. I see a lot of potential in him. I can feel it."

They gave him another look, making a small growling noise,

"You're right, why should I be worried Ithilagar? I've only been Champion for a few weeks. I should be enjoying it and saying **bring it on**."

* * *

**NAME: [**Zander Smith**]**

**GENDER: [**Male**]**

**AGE: [**21**]**

**BIRTHDAY: [**Jan. 4/ Capricorn**]**

**BIRTHPLACE: [**unknown**]**

**BLOOD: [**B+**]**

**HEIGHT: [**6'03"**]**

**WEIGHT: [**180 lbs.**]**

**HAIR: [**Black, shaggy**]**

**EYES: [**Hazel with hints of yellow and brown**]**

**TITLE: [**Champion of the Tayiō no Shima**]**

**BADGES: [**N/A**]**

**KEY ITEMS: [**N/A**]**

* * *

**POKéMON:**

(A/N: (*) indicates shiny Pokémon.)

***Plasmane / Luxray: Gleam Eyes Pokémon **

**Level: [**59**]**

**Type: [**Electric**]**

**OT: [**Zander**]**

**Gender: [**Male**]**

**Ability: [**Intimidate**]**

**Nature: [**Brave**]**

**Height: [**4'9.8"**]**

**Weight: [**95.3 lbs.**]**

**Moves:[**Thunderbolt**]**

***Shadowflame / Charizard: Flame Pokémon **

**Level: [**62**]**

**Type: [**Fire / Flying**]**

**OT: [**Zander**]**

**Gender: [**Male**]**

**Ability: [**Blaze**]**

**Nature: [**Hardy**]**

**Height: [**6'03"**]**

**Weight: [**203.2 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**Fly**]**

* * *

***Attention readers, due to my upcoming mixed-up schedule, updates will now be moved to Wednesdays 8-9 P.M. EST. Thanks for reading, and be sure you review!***


	5. Chapter 5

"**Be Afraid of the Dark Pt. I: Sketchy**"

"They really don't call this place 'Island of the Shadows' do they?"

"Yep. Been that way since the founders were killed, and it's said that their spirits haunt the island each night."

"Wh-What did they, you know, die from?"

"No one really knows. I've heard a lot of different rumors. Disease that made their skin peel off, curses from some of the natives, but I think it was actually just one of the local Pokémon that ate them alive."

Cobalt and Mauve had wandered through town looking for the Gym, although neither of them knew what to expect.

The town of Iō was dismal and creepy; almost all of the other buildings aside from the Pokémon Center were old and abandoned.

Before going into town, Mauve had gone into the woods to train her Pokémon a few levels. Dedenne even earned Nuzzle.

"This place looks like a nightmare." Mauve said as she began walking closer to Cobalt's side.

"Perfect place for a Ghost-type Gym."

He noticed Mauve a bit too close to his personal space, and tried pushing her away,

"Don't do that."

"What?"

"Don't get close to me, I don't want people to think we're a couple again. It's embarrassing."

"But I'm scared! The town gives me the creeps and I keep hearing voices coming from out of the houses."

"Oh, alright."

Mauve had began to squeeze so tightly to Cobalt that if she could squeeze any harder, they'd merge into Cauve or Mobalt.

"Mauve-choking-not breathing!"

"I'm sorry!" she said as she let go.

"It's fine *_coughs_* just don't do that again."

* * *

The Iō Gym wasn't much as what it must have been a long time ago.

It was an old, greying wooden house. Frankly, with the way the house was built, it was a miracle that it even stood.

"I'm not too sure about this, but since it has the official Gym Plaque on it, I guess this is it." Cobalt said.

The two stepped up to the front door after walking onto a creaky porch. Cobalt knocked, causing the door to slowly open itself. Mauve started to hold Cobalt's arm closer.

He rolled his eyes after seeing Mauve was now attached to him again,

"Great, now we can call ourselves inseparable lovers and no one would say otherwise."

They walked in, and to find that the door suddenly slammed itself shut right behind. No one was there to shut it.

The inside of the house was dark and cold. In the living room sat a large black piano. On it was a single candlestick lit with a tiny blue-white flame.

Cobalt went and took the candlestick off of the piano. Nothing happened,

"See, what did I tell you-"

"**SILENCE!**" a loud voice boomed.

The small flame then erupted into an inferno, wrapping itself around the entire room until it swirled back together to form what looked like an undead man in a suit and tie. Not like the one that had challenged Cobalt the other day, since this one was a hologram or a ghost, and he had no hair. In fact he didn't have much skin on his head or face,

"_Welcome challengers of the Iō City Gym! In life, I was known as Reginald the founder of this Gym. My grandson Perrish now takes the title of Gym Leader! Those of you wishing to challenge him, please step forward._"

Mauve uneasily made her way up.

"_What is your name, young lady?_"

If she hadn't been freaked out by the ghost before, she was now.

"M-M-Mauve..."

"_Mauve. This Gym Challenge will test your sense of fear. You must overcome what you fear the most if you want to challenge my grandson. Now, go!_"

The floor had suddenly opened up below Mauve, causing her to falling into the darkness as she was screaming her head off.

The ghost/hologram vanished.

Cobalt didn't know what else to do. He hadn't a clue where the stands to watch the battle as a spectator were, and he wasn't going to wait all this time for Mauve to get a Badge. He wanted to watch.

He looked over down the hall was a large, black curtain. Perhaps this was the way to the stands?

He decided to go down the hall and upon getting to the curtain, he fell into darkness as Mauve had herself.

* * *

Upon landing on the cushioned ground, Mauve found herself in a dark room; pitch black even.

"Dedenne, light this place up!"

Dedenne came out and buzzed with electricity, causing there to be a soft glow coming from its body.

The two walked through what seemed like a long hallway until Mauve stopped. They weren't alone, and out of nowhere, a small black orb covered in a thick purple smog appeared.

Mauve nearly had a heart attack,

"Dedenne, kill it!"

"_Ugh! It's a Ghost-type stupid! They can't die!_"

Dedenne fired Thunder Shocks at Gastly, making it retreat into the ceiling from further harm.

"Guess this was supposed to happen."

Dedenne hopped onto Mauve's shoulder as they continued walking down the path.

* * *

Cobalt landed on what felt like pillows where the ground should have been. He slowly rose, and upon seeing the lack of light, released Chūsei and commanded him to light a torch from a small stick he'd found on the ground,

"Why would a stick be in here?" he asked himself.

Upon further observation of the path leading down he saw that a tree and other various plants had begun growing under the house's foundation. By the looks of it, the plants had been growing for a while.

"This doesn't seem like the Gym's been taken care of properly-"

A small purple flame had cut him off. In his way stood a Litwick.

"Let's see," Cobalt said taking his book and reading glasses out,

"**_Litwick: The Candle Pokémon. A Ghost and Fire-type. They pretend to be guides through the dark, but when the light on its head begins to burn brightly, it will absorb the life force of both humans and Pokémon._**"

Cobalt didn't know what else to do but try to make his way past, but the Litwick kept getting in his way,

"If you don't move, I'm gonna step on you."

Litwick's flame flared,

"Oh Hell no!"

Cobalt drop-kicked the small Pokémon away,

"That may count as Pokémon abuse, but your case, I'll make an exception. Come on, Chūsei."

* * *

Mauve and Dedenne had continued on until they reached what looked like a light. There sat the battlefield and standing there in a hooded cloak must have been the Gym Leader.

They looked up and had seen Mauve, and in an instant released a Gastly and a Haunter.

"Whoa, this started sooner than I thought! Dedenne! Lapras!"

Dedenne blasted Gastly with Thunder Shock as Lapras used Water Pulse on Haunter. Somehow, however, none of the attacks had done any damage to them at all.

A Thunderbolt from Haunter later and Lapras was down. Buddy replaced him in battle.

Gastly used Night Shade causing Dedenne to faint.

"How could Perrish be so much more powerful?!" Mauve asked as she released Taills.

Being a Normal-type, none of her attacks worked anyway, but Buddy's Seed Bomb should have done something.

Haunter had somehow used Fire Punch and Buddy was down. Gastly used Thunderbolt before Taills could react, and the battle was over.

Mauve was stunned speechless; she fell to her hands and knees,

"I...lost?"

* * *

Cobalt saw a light at the end of the tunnel and had somehow found himself back outside. But this didn't look like the outdoors of Iō. This was Hajimari. To be more specific, Cobalt's own backyard.

Out of nowhere stood someone very familiar to him. Himself.

"_Hey me! What's up?_"

This may have been him, but he sounded different than his normal self.

"Uh...nothing much I guess. What's going on?"

"_Oh yeah, this! I'm here to tell you that *now in a more serious tone* you're wasting your time._"

"What now?"

"_Sorry buddy, but this whole research thing isn't going to cut it. You need to start battling. We both know you want to._"

"Um, how about no? K?"

"_That isn't the answer. Haven't you noticed the way Chūsei's been acting?_"

Cobalt looked down at Chūsei; nothing seemed wrong.

"No, because there's nothing wrong with him."

"_Yeah there is. He was born to __**battle**__. Not just be a little house dog while you're trying to hit it up with Erika or Flannery."_

"I don't battle, end of discussion. And by that I also mean this phony illusion."

"_Ah, so you've noticed it! Alright, the way out is through the back door into the house._"

The other Cobalt pointed to the porch door. Cobalt started walking until,

"_Oh wait, just one more thing!_"

"What now?"

"_They're coming._"

"Who's coming?"

"_Them. The ones that have been tailing you all this time. The old man, the Feraligatr. They are all connected incidents. You've done something that you didn't have the right to do, and they're pissed off. That Zander Smith character's probably one of them in disguise or their accomplice or something. You've been warned; watch your back._"

And with that, the simulation vanished, leaving Cobalt with a chill. He was back along the tunnel that led towards the opening of the stadium, which also looked abandoned. He heard someone scream.

Mauve.

* * *

Mauve sat on the porch steps that led to the entrance of the Gym; the Sun was beginning to go down.

How could she have lost?

Cobalt came running out of the house, nearly out of breath,

"I couldn't find *pants* the stands to watch. *inhales/exhales hard* How did it go?"

"I lost."

"Wait, you what?"

Mauve got up to gace Cobalt, fire clearly in her near teary eyes,

"I lost Cobalt! Did you hear it that time?!"

Cobalt looked stunned for a minute,

"I'm sorry. Maybe if you-"

"**I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG!**"

"I never said that!"

"But you were going to! I knew you were! You always have to be such a smartass about everything I do or say and-!"

"All this time and you still don't know anything about me! And with that ignorant attitude or yours, you never will!"

"That has nothing to do with anything important! At this point we're not even friends! You're just some Pokémon nerd who's following me around so that he doesn't fail-!"

"I'm done."

Cobalt walked past her and started towards the city. Mauve didn't realize until now what happened,

"What? Where are you going?"

Cobalt turned back, fiery rage burning in his eyes,

"I'm leaving. You obviously don't want me around, so why not? Most Trainers can go years on their own. YEARS! I guess you can manage for yourself."

Cobalt turned back to the city and walked,

"Wait!"

Mauve ran after Cobalt and grabbed his arm in an attempt to pull him back, tears were beginning to flood,

"Please don't leave me! I don't know what I'd do with out you-!"

Cobalt turned back angrily.

There was a loud, echoing noise immediately following, causing random Pidgey and Spearow to fly out of the trees.

He had slapped her.

The girl he agreed to help on her journey and he had struck her. A large red mark formed from when his right hand had made contact with her left cheek.

Mauve was now lying on the ground, sobbing at a near silent level. Cobalt only stared down at her with unforgiving eyes,

"I should have never agreed to come with you. Look at you! You're pathetic! You're nothing more than a novice Trainer and a waste of my time. Goodbye, Mauve. Forever."

* * *

When Mauve finally got up it was dark, and Cobalt was gone.

She began to search frantically for him, calling out his name loudly, but it was all for nothing. Cobalt was gone. And she was all alone.

She took out her Pokéballs,

"At least *sniffles* I still have you-"

Her Pokéballs were empty. Dedenne, Taills, Buddy, and Lapras. They were gone too.

She truly was all alone. In a dark, cold town, where shadows were beginning to move but vanished due to an oncoming storm.

Lightning cracked; thunder immediately following it. There was no rain.

Mauve was now beginning to get very scared. Not only was she alone, but she was terrified. It wasn't just that she was alone, unwanted, along with the loud, startling storm, but she was now beginning to feel as if she was being followed.

She tried desperately to find a house to take shelter in, but it was difficult in the darkness. Not only that, but everytime it looked as if all she had to do was go straight, the house went off to the side. But she knew she couldn't have changed direction.

Once she finally made it inside one of the houses, it began to rain hard, which was when she heard it.

"Mauve..." a familiar voice echoed; it sounded horrible.

She slowly turned, only to see something she wished that she hadn't.

Cobalt was lying there, blood pouring from his body as if he had been stabbed many times.

She ran to him, frantically trying to see where he'd been hurt.

He looked up at her,

"Mauve...I'm sorry...take care of Chūsei...please..."

"No! *sobs* You'll take care of him! We have to find the hospital-**HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE!**"

His head fell into the mud as lightning brightened the sky; thunder nearly causing Mauve to go deaf.

"No, no, please Arceus, no! *sobs* I'm sorry, Cobalt, I wish that I'd never snapped at you like that! Please come back! Please! **COBALT!**"

She sobbed into his nonliving shoulders for hours maybe. The storm had finally settled.

Mauve finally looked up at the bright full moon and then back at Cobalt, and kissed his forehead.

"I'm sorry."

"...m-m-m-m-a-a-A-U-U-V-V-V-E-E-E!" a voice which sounded small at first began to rise in volume.

A white figure began to run to Mauve at high speed, and eventually absorbed her. Her hand started to burn.


	6. Chapter 6

"**Be Afraid of the Dark Pt. II: I'm Here**"

Cobalt was craddling Mauve's unconcious body in his arms. Chūsei and Dedenne had taken care of the Duskull and Shuppet that had attacked Mauve, and put her into an unconcious state of hypnosis.

He had seen tears flodding from her eyes, and sometimes she'd silently say something in her sleep; she was having a terrible nightmare.

"Wake up, already! Come on!"

He tried shaking her, but nothing he tried worked. Then he thought of something,

"Chūsei, I need you to Bite Mauve's hand!"

The Growlithe didn't look too sure about it.

"Come on, buddy, for Mauve!"

Chūsei then ran over and instead of using Bite, his teeth began to glow a bright orange as he sunk his fangs into Mauve's right hand.

Her eyes shot open and to Cobalt's uncertain relief, she screamed at the top of her lungs in pain.

She looked fazed for a minute before turning to see Cobalt and immediately grabbing him and wailing into his chest.

Not sure of what to do at first, being taken by surprise by this, Cobalt slowly wrapped his arms around Mauve,

"Hey, it's alright, you were just having a nightmare. I'm here, Mauve. I'm here."

She continued to cry for a while, until she looked back up at Cobalt and started touching his face as if to make sure he was real,

"Wha ah ya doin?" He asked with one of Mauve's hands in his teeth.

"I had to make sure this wasn't another nightmare. It was..."

She looked as if she was going to start crying again.

"No, please don't cry!"

Cobalt didn't know what else to do but hold her tight again,

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

He looked back down at Mauve, and helped her up,

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, I've got someone to talk to."

* * *

Perrish stood about five foot three inches tall with combed purple hair at the top; he was pretty short for a twenty-two year old. He wore a dark purple suit and black tie; the kind of outfit one would wear at a funearl.

He sat there, not sure what to do. Or at least until he heard a loud banging on the door until it fell off.

Lapras had broken down the wooden door. Cobalt walked in front and made his way toward Perrish with Mauve following behind; he was beyond pissed off.

"I'd like challenge you to a fight."

"Oh, finally (*cackling laughs*) I've been waiting for new challenge-"

***PUNCH***

Perrish had gone flying and crashed into his coffin shaped (now broken) chair; his nose started bleeding. Another punch and his left grey eye had swollen shut.

"I win." Cobalt said.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"**WHAT'S WRONG WITH-WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU! YOUR POKéMON NEARLY CAUSED MY FRIEND TO GO INTO SHOCK, MAYBE EVEN CLOSE TO LOSING HER SANITY!**"

Mauve was astounded how much Cobalt was doing; she made a note not to piss him off in real life.

Cobalt searched Perrish and found the Badge Case in his vest. Taking it out, he chucked one of the Badges to Mauve who caught it in her hand.

The Badge looked like a bronze coffin with a cross on top. The Death Badge.

He turned back to Perrish and kicked him in the gut,

"You don't deserve to call yourself a Gym Leader; you're a freak."

He started walking with Mauve to the exit that led to the outside of the Gym.

"Wait!"

Cobalt and Mauve turned back as Perrish struggled to get up,

"I'm not even *coughs* the Gym Leader anymore!" he laughed.

"**YOU'RE WHAT?!**"

"I was beaten by my rival who was also applying for the job; SHE'S the Gym Leader in Kage now...that bitch...**I OUGHT TO STRANGLE THE LIFE OUT OF THAT PRETTY LITTLE NECK OF HERS-!**"

Cobalt ran back and grabbed him by the shirt collar,

"Where is she?"

Perrish still retained that creepy grin on his face,

"Her Gym's in another town just down North from here! And I have to warn you, she's tough!"

He threw Perrish back to the ground as he left with Mauve,

"One more thing!"

The two didn't bother turning back.

"She's a Gym Leader who specializes in the one type that no other has! One stronger than Ghosts! You will never beat her!"

Cobalt stopped; Mauve did soon after,

"What is it?" she asked.

"The one type. One stronger than Ghosts." Cobalt said. He looked at Mauve as Perrish was rolling on the ground laughing like a maniac,

"Dark."

* * *

The new Gym was in a town called Yoru a few miles away. The Gym closely resembled a black Japanese temple, which was nearly impossible to see as it was already dark.

Upon stepping through the torii, the two were jumped by various Dark-type Pokémon: Houndoom, Murkrow, Honchkrow, Mightyena, Weavile, Umbreon, Poochyena, Houndour, Sneasel and the Zoroark family. None of them looked like the welcoming type.

"Who's there?" a soft, calm voice asked.

Out on the steps was a young woman who looked about eighteen. She wore a simple, but brilliant black kimono and had a pair of bright, scarlet red eyes and long black hair that she had let down. Along with the smile she wore, she was very beautiful.

She looked down at the Pokémon surrounding the two; her expression remained the same as she said,

"Alright, all of you, go on. These two are welcome here."

The Pokémon suddenly went from mean to friendly in a matter of seconds; the Houndoom even went so far as to lick Mauve's fingers. They must have been very well-trained.

"Thank you. We've been having a really rough day." Mauve said.

The woman giggled,

"You went to Perrish's Gym, didn't you?"

"We thought that was the actual Gym! His Pokémon gave us illusions and nightmares so real...it was-ugh, I don't want to try remembering it!"

"You poor dear, I'm so sorry. Perrish has gone a tad sadistic over the last few years since I took over and built my Gym here. I'm not sure of his sanity...are you alright, young man?"

Cobalt hadn't been able to speak; he was completely mesmerized by this woman's beauty that his heart was beginning to skip beats irregularly.

He tried to say something but all that came out was some strange, wheezing noise.

The other two looked at each other and started giggling, Cobalt feared they had caught on. Which they had.

"Oh no, it looks like it's happened again."

"What?" Mauve asked in between giggles.

"I'm afraid that your friend here has a crush on me. I don't know why, but that seems to happen to me so often."

Cobalt's face began to redden,

"I'm sorry, that's not-I mean-" he flustered.

"Oh, so he can talk!" the girl laughed.

"Yes," Cobalt said returning to a normal tone of voice, "so, you're the Gym Leader?"

"Yes I am! I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Selena."

"I'm Cobalt. And this is Mauve."

"*yawns* Nice to meet you. Sorry about that, I just woke up."

"Wha? But it must be almost midnight! What are you doing waking up so late?" Mauve asked.

"I'm a nocturnal. I find that it fits as a Gym Leader who specializes in Dark-types."

"That's an interesting lifestyle you have." Cobalt said.

"Thanks." Selena replied, scanning his appearance before looking back at him, "I like your jacket. It's a nice shade of green."

Cobalt reddened again, as did Selena.

"Okay now if you two will stop flirting, I'd like a Gym battle please."

"Oh! Alright then, as my duty as Gym Leader, I accept."

She turned to her right and clapped her hands twice. Her Pokémon all lined up side by side in order.

"How many Badges do you have already?" Selena asked.

"Two."

Selena held up a hand, raising two fingers. The higher evolved Pokémon such as Mightyena and Houndour stepped back, leaving the other non-evolved Pokémon exposed.

"Alright, Mauve, I want you to pick three of my Pokémon you want to battle against based on how comfortable you are with your Pokémon's level."

Mauve looked at her strangely,

"You mean, you don't choose them yourself?"

"Nope! I just have the challenger pick them, because it's their battle, so I say they should get to choose."

"Oh. Well that's different."

Mauve walked to and stood in the middle of the line. She observed them before,

"I want...this one," she said pointing to the Houndour, "that one, *points to the Murkrow* and...oooh!"

She saw Zorua sitting toward the end next to Zoroark and ran to him,

"I want him! It's so cute!"

Zorua, for some reason, turned around facing the other direction.

Selena walked over and picked Zorua up,

"I'm sorry, but he's more of a house pet who keeps me company. He doesn't like to battle."

"Oh..." Mauve pouted, "well, I guess I just take this one."

Mauve pointed at Sneasel, who didn't look pleased. Must have been jealous over not being picked before Zorua. And with that "enthusiastic" attitiude Mauve had picking Sneasel? She was going down.

"Alright, I will see you at the top of the tower!"

Selena hopped onto Honchkrow and turned toward Cobalt,

"You can fly up with me if you want." She winked.

"Uh..."

Cobalt looked at Mauve, who rolled her eyes,

"Just go, I know you want to."

"Thank you!"

Cobalt grabbed Honchkrow's talons as they soared to the top.

"Alright, just make it to the top of the tower. Got it!"

* * *

After making it through several levels with four different Trainers and some of the other levels being parts of Selena's home, Mauve had finally reached the top.

Cobalt and Selena were on a wooden bench, laughing as Chūsei and Ōhi played with Zorua and Umbreon.

They seemed to have been talking about something when Selena noticed that Mauve had arrived.

"Hey, you finally made it!" she said getting up.

"Yeah, took me a while, but I'm here!"

"You think you're ready to go?"

"Oh yeah. Let's go!"

"Oh wait! I forgot something. *runs up to Mauve and hands her a white bandanna* It's very important that you put this around your eyes. I'm also going to put them around your Pokémon's eyes too."

"What, why? Won't that keep them from knowing when to hit?" Mauve asked as Selena wrapped identical bandannas around Mauve's own Pokémon.

"Not at all! As long as your Pokémon can use their other senses and if they're in tune with you, then they'll know when and where to attack!"

She ran back to the her end of the field and doned her own black bandanna,

"Ready? Begin!"

"Uh...alright Buddy, you're up first! Use Mega Drain!"

"Houndour, let's go and use Ember!"

Cobalt was still watching from the bench,

"Right, let's see,"

"**_The Houndour Family: Houndour and Houndoom. Dark and Fire-types-_**"

"Oh I have GOT to get one of those!"

"**_The Dark Pokémon. Very intelligent and skilled pack hunters, they use a variety of cries and barks to locate others in its pack to corner prey, making this sort of teamwork like no other in nature. They will often howl ominously around dawn to signal the others of its location. _**

**_The leader of the Houndoom pack can be identified as having sharply raked horns. Their fire has a foul smelling toxin that has been known to turn their Fire-type attacks a bright violet color. If one is hit by such an attack the pain will never go away. Its eerie howl will send even the largest Ursaring or Tyranitar back into their nests or caves because of it often being associated with death and was once said to be the call of the Grim Reaper and the unholy offspring of fire and Death itself._**"

That description made even Cobalt shiver.

Buddy wasn't able to see where anything was and used the attack to her left before she was consumed in flames and was barely hanging on.

Mauve heard Buddy's cry of pain,

"Buddy! Just hang on a bit longer! Use Stun Spore!"

This time, Buddy sprinkled the spores all over. Mauve didn't know just how close she was from being hit.

"Use Ember, once more!"

Buddy was down.

"I should have know this would happen, Lapras, I choose you!"

Lapras went and waddled to where it thought the battle was taking place, but was still at a left angle away from Houndour.

"If we can't see it...Lapras, shoot a Water Pulse attack straight up into the air!"

Lapras however used Water Gun, though the effect was all the same. Water rained down from the sky, leaving Houndour soaked.

"That was a great idea Mauve, by shooting water into the air, you were able to attack from all directions!"

"Thanks!"

"Alright, let's switch things up," she said returning Houndour, "Murkrow!

Murkrow seemed to fly effortlessly through the air with the bandanna blocking its vision.

"**_The Murkrow Family: The Darkness and Big Boss Pokémon. Dark and Flying-types. Murkrow is often associated with bad luck, especially when seen during the night. It will sometimes lure unwary people or Pokémon who are chasing it onto dark mountain trails for those who follow it to get lost in. It adores shiny objects and will often hide them in secret locations. Murkrow and Meowth will often loot each other's stashes. _**

**_By makind a deep cry, many Murkrow will often begin to follow it. For this, it is often called the "Summoner of Night". Honchkrow will often be seen grooming itself idly while its Murkrow cronies will bring it food and sometimes jewlery. Because of its merciless nature, it will never forgive any of the mistakes the Murkrow will make._**"

"Use Wing Attack!"

"Water Gun at the sky, like before!"

Lapras instead used Water Pulse in a random direction and blasting the left side of the wall with water; nearly soaking Cobalt and his Pokémon had he not moved.

"Lapras isn't listening to Mauve's commands, I wonder why..." Cobalt said to himself.

Murkrow had successfully landed a hit on Lapras, but it hadn't done much damage.

"Lapras, use Water Gun again!"

Once again, Lapras did something highly unexpected. It turned to Mauve and blasted her a good ten feet back with Water Pulse.

"Ah! *coughs* Lapras, what the hell?!"

"It sounds to me like your Lapras isn't listening to you. Better put it back in its Pokéball." Selena commented, knowing what was happening from her point of view.

"Alright."

Lapras was returned; Taills was now up.

This had gone on and on. Neither Taills or Dedenne were able to see the attacks coming and quickly fell.

Mauve fell to her knees as Dedenne lay on the ground,

"I lost?"

Murkrow was barely hanging on, and was returned as Selena took off her blindfold,

"I'm sorry. You and your Pokémon are just not in sync with one another. Until you can manage that, you will not be given the Shadow Badge."

Selena began to walk away, and into her home until she saw Cobalt leaving the bench and walking away,

"On second thought!" she said running back out, "Why don't you stay for a couple days and train a little, so that you can become stronger?"

Mauve lit up,

"I'd like that."

Selena looked over at Cobalt,

"I'd like that too." he said as Mauve fell to the ground from exhaustion.

* * *

Training lasted almost four days.

Starting at dawn, Mauve would get up bright and early and train with her Pokémon and at night, she would train under Selena until she fell asleep again.

It had been discovered that Lapras was unable to obey Mauve as she had trained it too high at the rate she was at, and the only way to get him to listen to her again was to earn the Shadow Badge.

The two were observing Selena training with Murkrow on one of the wooden platforms of her home that overlooked the lantern-light, cherry blossom orchard in the near distance.

She and her Pokémon were completely synced. Murkrow flew through the branches of the cherry blossom trees with every one of Selena's commands. Every once in a while, the flowers from the trees would blow off and swirl around Selena in the wind, making her look even more radiant.

Mauve had been looking over at Cobalt the whole time, watching him stare at Selena in the moonlight,

"Wow, this isn't creepy at all."

He turned back to Mauve quickly,

"Shut up. You're supposed to be watching if you want to beat her!"

"Then why are _you_ watching her? Hm?"

Cobalt didn't answer.

"I think someone's in love!"

"Will you can it already!"

"Haven't you noticed she likes you back? She's been flirting with you the whole time we've been here. You should ask her out!"

"No."

"Do it."

"No."

"Do it!"

"No!"

"You know you want t-!"

"**DAMN IT MAUVE, I SAID NO!**"

Cobalt's shouting echoed through in the distance. Looking back down, Cobalt saw that Selena was looking up at him giggling; Murkrow, despite still having his blindfold on, shook his head at Cobalt.

Mauve knew when was an awkward situation, and decided to take her leave,

"Uh...I think I'll just go to bed now, nighty-night!"

* * *

The next morning just as the red sun was rising, Cobalt awoke from one of the many guest rooms, he was about to go out and get breakfeast from a nearby fastfood restaurant when he saw Selena leaning against one of the cherry blossom trees; she was asleep.

He went and picked her up slowly as Murkrow (who was still out of his Pokéball) was darting around tree limb to tree limb, wondering what Cobalt was doing with his Trainer.

Once carrying her inside, Cobalt laid Selena onto his bed, and left her there.

"Thank you." He heard her whisper.

"No problem."

* * *

Later that day, Mauve and Cobalt had their Pokémon out, all playing around the yard of the Gym.

Mauve noticed Cobalt constantly keeping a close eye on Chūsei and Ōhi. He looked back at Mauve after noticing that he was being watched,

"What?"

"Nothing it's just..."

"Just what?"

"It's like...with you and Ōhi. She's your Pokémon, I know that, but it's like...it's like you don't even care."

Cobalt was taken aback by this,

"What ever gave you that impression?"

"I...don't know, I just-"

"Well I mean, I get why you would if you had a reason, I just-I never planned on getting another Pokémon. It's always been just me and Chūsei and that's kinda how I figured it would always be."

Mauve turned back to the front; as did Cobalt,

"Oh..."

"Yeah."

"Hey, Cobalt?"

"Hm?"

"When we get done here, I want to get a Fire-type of my own."

"Okay."

* * *

It wasn't until the fourth day that Mauve attempted to try once more.

As the sun began to change the color of the morning clouds, Mauve had just finished training with Selena, who was now getting ready for bed,

"*yawns* Good work today, Mauve. You should almost be ready for me. I'm confident that you will be."

"I know. I want to try and earn the Shadow Badge again."

Selena perked up upon hearing this and spun around at the entrance of the temple,

"Oh, good! I'll be sure to schedule first thing tonight!"

"Huh-uh. As a challenger, I'm calling you out! I want us to battle, right now!"

Selena raised an eyebrow,

"You do know that I'm a nocturnal right? I have to sleep during the day."

Cobalt came into the scene as he emerged from where Selena was entering,

"What's going on now?"

"But as your duty as Gym Leader, you're supposed to accept a challengers request!" Mauve said.

Cobalt objected to this,

"Mauve, you're also a guest to this Gym and supposed to honor its rules. If Selena needs her sleep, then you will wait."

"*sighs* It's alright. Do you want the same Pokémon as last time?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Put your bandannas on."

Mauve did as Selena had told her,

"Okay...go Houndour."

The black dog was released.

"Go, Whiskers!"

Dedenne stepped onto the battlefield.

"Use, Ember!"

"Thundershock!"

Whiskers' attack hit before Houndour could start; it looked as if he had done more damage than before.

"*yawns* Use, Bite..."

Houndour charged towards Whiskers, but wasn't exactly able to use his attack since Whiskers had done something smart, and launched himself into Houndour's mouth.

Mauve nearly fainted until Houndour was zapped with another Thundershock, leaving Houndour unable to battle.

Upon returning Houndour to his ball, Selena released Murkrow,

"*yawns* Peck!"

"Thundershock!"

Murkrow didn't stand a chance. Especially because it fell out of the air and would have made impact if not for Selena returning it to its Pokéball.

"Alright, now-!"

Sneasel suddenly popped out of nowhere and nearly sliced off Whiskers' head.

"Sneasel! You're supposed to wait for me to give you your commands!"

But Sneasel wouldn't listen, and instead did something unforgivable.

She sliced off Whiskers' left ear.

Mauve was speechless as Whiskers ran to her, crying in pain.

"Sneasel! How dare you! We do not do that in a Gym Battle, or any other battle for that matter!" Selena barked.

Sneasel only rolled its eyes and looked in the opposite direction.

"Oh, Whiskers you poor baby!" Mauve cried as she held her Dedenne tight in her arms.

Sneasel only smirked at this scene, when suddenly she was tackled by a blur of orange and slammed into the wall.

Selena and Cobalt looked to see it was Chūsei who attacked Sneasel, and he did **NOT **look happy.

He charged with glowing orange fangs, and viciously mauled Sneasel.

When it was done after a good five minutes with the two Trainers attempting to separate their Pokémon, Chūsei began walking back to Cobalt, but not before kicking dirt at Sneasel with his back right paw as a sign of great disrespect.

The two were nearly speechless. Chūsei was panting heavily after nearly wearing out and Sneasel was laying on the ground, bleeding.

Mauve had wrapped Whiskers' wound with his bandanna,

"Selena, I need to get Whiskers to the Pokémon Center, now!"

"Hurry! I'll call them and tell them you're coming!"

"Thanks!"

"Mauve, wait!"

Mauve turned around just as a small object had flown to her and was caught in her right hand. It looked like a crescent Moon with the rest of the rounded Badge colored in black.

Cobalt returned Chūsei, grabbed his bag, and ran out of the gate following Mauve,

"Hang on, I'm coming!"

Whiskers had already begun to lose consciousness.

* * *

After three hours of surgery, Mauve exited the Pokémon Center with Whiskers, still asleep from the medication, in her arms.

Cobalt was sitting on the bench with Ōhi out when he saw Mauve coming. He sat up,

"What'd they say?"

"They said he'll be fine," she said sitting down next to Cobalt, "they weren't able to reattach his ear, but as soon as the bleeding stops he'll be fine. They gave me some other meds so it won't get infected."

"Well that's a relief."

The two got up and began walking down the road. Now that Mauve had gotten her Badge, there was no need to return to the Gym.

"So, where to next?" Mauve asked.

Cobalt took the Map out of his bag and searched,

"Hikari. The island of light."

"Oh, that name sounds pretty. Wonder what type of Gym the have."

Cobalt did some further reading, only for his face to grow irritated,

"Oh Arceus no."

"What?"

"Sounds like the next Gym is gonna be right up your ally."

* * *

**NAME: [**Cobalt**]**

**GENDER: [**Male**]  
**

**AGE: [**17**]**

**BIRTHDAY: [**Aug. 19 / Leo**]**

**BIRTHPLACE: [**Hajimari; outskirts of Tumblegrass**]**

**BLOOD: [**AB+**]**

**HEIGHT: [**5'9"**]**

**WEIGHT: [**136 lbs.**]**

**HAIR: [**Black, messy**]**

**EYES: [**Cobalt "named for his eyes", calm, intelligent**]**

**TITLE: [**N/A**]**

**BADGES: [**N/A**]**

**KEY ITEMS:**

— PokéGear

— Black Book

— Town Map

— Port Seven Ship Pass

* * *

**POKéMON:**

**Chūsei / Growlithe: Puppy Pokémon **

**Level: [**24**]**

**Type: [**Fire**]**

**OT: [**Cobalt**]**

**Gender: [**Male**]**

**Ability: [**Flash Fire**]**

**Nature: [**Bold**]**

**Height: [**2'5.4"**]**

**Weight: [**47.3 lbs.**]**

**Moves:** **[**Bite, Ember, Growl, Fire Fang**]**

**Ohī / Litleo: Lion Cub Pokémon**

**Level: [**20**]**

**Type: [**Normal/Fire**]**

**OT: [**Cobalt**]**

**Gender: [**Female**]**

**Ability: [**Rivalry**]**

**Nature: [**Brave**]**

**Height: [**2'03"**]**

**Weight: [**30.5 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**unknown**]**

* * *

**NAME: [**Mauve**]**

**GENDER: [**Female**]**

**AGE: [**16**]**

**BIRTHDAY: [**March 27 / Aries**]**

**BIRTHPLACE: [**Celdaon City, Kanto**]**

**HEIGHT: [**5' 6"**]**

**WEIGHT: [**113 lbs.**]**

**HAIR: [**Blonde, let down or tied in a high ponytail**]**

**EYES: [**Soft purple, friendly**]**

**TITLE: [**Pokémon Trainer**]**

**BADGES: [**Corn Patch, Death, Shadow**]**

**KEY ITEMS: **

— Badge Case

— Tent (sleeping bags)

— Paint Set

* * *

**POKéMON:**

**Lapras: Transport Pokémon **

**Level: [**30**]**

**Type: [**Water/Ice**]**

**OT: [**Mauve**]**

**Gender: [**Gender**]**

**Ability: [**unknown**]**

**Nature: [**Jolly**]**

**Height: [**4' 7.5"**]**

**Weight: [**292.6 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**Water Gun, Water Pulse**]**

**Dedenne: Antenna Pokémon **

**Level: [**22**]**

**Type: [**Electric/Fairy**]**

**OT: [**Mauve**]**

**Gender: [**Male**]**

**Ability: [**Pick Up**]**

**Nature: [**Mischievous**]**

**Height: [**0'5.3"**]**

**Weight: [**5.6 lbs.**]**

**Moves:** **[**Thunder Shock, Dig**]**

**Taills / Taillow: Tiny Swallow Pokémon **

**Level: [**20**]**

**Type: [**Normal/Flying**]**

**OT: [**Mauve**]**

**Gender: [**Female**] **

**Ability: [**Guts**]**

**Nature: [**Docile**]**

**Height: [**1' 0"**]**

**Weight: [**5.7 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**Peck, Wing Attack**]**

**Buddy / Budew: Bud Pokémon **

**Level: [**15**]**

**Type: [**Grass/Poison**]**

**OT: [**Hadley**]**

**Gender: [**Female**]**

**Ability: [**Poison Point**]**

**Nature: [**Lax**]**

**Height: [**0' 6.5"**]**

**Weight: [**2.9 lbs.**]**

**Moves: [**Absorb, Growth**]**


	7. Chapter 7

"**Free Ride**"

* * *

It just HAD to be here. Right in front of them, sitting in its own relished glory in thehot morning Sun.

Great.

The Cycling Road.

The two stood there for a while. Completely stumped as to how they were going to get across when they were missing the one and only thing needed to cross without getting in trouble.

Mauve glared at Cobalt as long as they stood there,

"You do realize this is all on you, right?"

"I told you it wasn't! It was that jackass from the docks! He fried it!"

Mauve just went into her signature pouting routine. She sat on the ground and put her head on her knees,

"Is there another way we can make our way across?" She asked raising her head.

"No. I must have checked the map for alternative routes maybe three or four times."

Mauve sunk back into her knees.

"Maybe we can buy a new Bike?"

"We still don't have any money." Mauve said in a muffled voice.

"Well then," he said grabbing the back of Mauve's bag and pulling her up, "we're gonna go and get jobs."

* * *

Down the hill where they originally stood, was Kuroi muzi City.

It was a metropolitan city that was surrounded by a literal black water moat. That was about it.

The two had managed to land jobs as a pizza delivery boy and a hotel maid.

"Good to see you finally found a job." Cobalt said.

The two met up on the intersection on Main Street.

"Yeah but at least you don't have to wear this stupid, skimpy maid outfit."

"It's not that bad."

"Coming from a boy..."

"Will you stop? Look, we only need to do this until we raise enough money to afford a pair of bikes. Now let's just get this over with."

* * *

Cobalt rode on a small red moped through the city streets to deliver a tall stack of pizzas to some kid living in an apartment building across town.

The rule was simple. Thirty minutes or it was free, and Cobalt was down to five minutes left.

Pulling the bike over, he ran to the door, then to the elevator, and rode up to the top floor without any interruptions.

"Okay, room 5C." he said to himself while in the elevator.

He looked at his PokéGear, the watch read that he had less than a minute left. He wasn't going to make it. The pizzas were too cold anyway...

He took Chūsei's Pokéball out,

"Chūsei, help me out buddy!"

* * *

Upon making it to the door, he was met by his customer.

He looked about thirteen or fourteen. His head was covered in wild blonde hair and had a pair of impatient orange eyes. He slowly looked at Cobalt as he was opening the door, and looked almost shocked to see him at the door.

That quickly changed,

"Well buddy, it looks like I'm not paying for those!"

"Yeah...I don't think so."

"What was that?"

Cobalt opened up one of the six white boxes revealing a steaming pizza with one side extra cheese and the other all pepperoni.

"But that's-I ordered half an hour ago!"

"Kid, feel how hot they are. You may want to get your clocks checked."

The kid didn't have an amused look as he handed to him the twenty-five cash dollars.

* * *

The kid slammed the door,

"I cannot believe we just paid that guy!"

He turned back and walked toward the living room. A PC had sat there on the center table where he sat the pizzas on before turning the PC,

"I saw him! He was the pizza delivery guy!"

"_Seriously?!_"

"Yeah I can't believe it eith-"

"_You got pizza without me?!_"

The kid facepalmed.

* * *

After earning a hard day's pay, minimum wage didn't seem so bad having gotten thirty dollars.

Cobalt soon met up with Mauve at the local café,

"So how'd it go?"

"Awful. I only got ten bucks and my boss is a complete sleaze. I'm only sixteen for Arceus' sake!"

"Okay I made thirty, that makes fourty, which means-"

"Which means we're going to be working at our shitty jobs for the rest of our lives."

"That's not going to happen."

"How do you know that? I barely got paid, my fourty-five year old **married** boss has a crush on me-"

"Excuse me, did I hear you were in need of financial aid?"

A young, green haired girl who looked maybe a year or two younger than Mauve was sitting at the next table behind Mauve.

"No, it's fine, we're just trying to raise money for bikes. They're too expensive for us."

"Ah, I see. But in any case, this might be of use to you."

The strange girl gave Mauve what looked like...

"Is that-?" Cobalt asked.

"Yep." Mauve showed it to Cobalt, "A Bike Voucher!"

* * *

"How awesome was that girls generosity?" Cobalt asked as he and Mauve entered the Bike Shop. It was sunset by the time they got there.

"Yeah, this is great!"

Mauve took the Voucher back out and looked at it, only for her expression to sink.

"What?" Cobat asked.

"This Bike Voucher's only good for one Bike..."

Cobalt took the Voucher and examined it. Mauve hadn't read it wrong like he had hoped; this was legit. One Bike per Voucher.

"Great," Mauve started, "how are we supposed to fit on one Bike? Huh?"

Cobalt wasn't listening.

"Cobalt?! What are you-!"

Cobalt was looking at the idea that had just appeared. Mauve however, wasn't very excited about it,

"There is no way in Hell."

* * *

Out of the store came a large black and red motorcycle which came complete was a side car. Mauve was riding in the side car, though she didn't enjoy it.

"Why can't I drive?" she asked.

"Which one of us knows **how** to drive one of these things exactly?"

Mauve stayed silent.

"And just so you're aware," Cobalt said as he began switching gears, and gaining a devilish smile in his excitement, "I like to go fast."

Mauve held Whiskers tight before screaming down and through the Cycling Road, narrowly dodging each and every Trainer as Cobalt was laughing all the way through the night.

* * *

"-he doesn't seem aware, that's for sure. He was the pizza guy from earlier and he didn't even notice anything about me."

The kid from earlier was sitting in his dark apartment (which wasn't actually his) and talking with a group of people in a multi-chat on his PC.

"_Right, I even went and tried to battle him in the forest on Hajimari the other day, and he made the girl do it. He must be trying to hide his inner strength! That has to be it!_" one of them commented.

"_I think that as long as he's separated from the girl, then he's right where we want him._" another said.

"In any case, we're going to have to make ourselves known-"

"_No._" a new person said, "_Not just yet, I'm beginning to think that he's getting suspicious. It may just be time for us to lay low for a while._"

"Alright, I still think we should start hittin' him hard, but alright. I'm signing out."


End file.
